Universal Law of Gravitation – Physics

The universal law of gravitation was given by Sir Isaac Newton in 1687. The idea of the universal law of gravitation was stricken to Newton under the tree when an apple fell from the tree in a downward direction, not sideways or upward. Due to this incident, he thought if the earth can attract objects like apples then it can also attract the moon towards it. This thought of Newton gave birth to the concept of gravitation.

In this article, we will focus on the concept of the Universal law of gravitation, the Universal law of gravitation formula, and so on. 

The universal law of gravitation: Statement

“Any particle of matter in the universe attracts any other with a force varying directly as the product of the masses and inversely as the square of the distance between them.”

The universal law of Gravitation: Explanation

In other words, each object in the universe attracts the other object from a force which can be defined as a gravitational force. This force is proportional to the product of the masses of the objects and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the objects.

The universal law of gravitation formula:

F = Gm1m2r2

Where 

F = Gravitational force

m1 = mass of the first object

m2 = mass of the second object

G = Gravitational Constant and its value is 6.7 10-11Nm2/kg2

r2 = distance between the centres of the masses

Let us look an example,

Ex.1 Find out the gravitational force if two masses are 40 kg and 60 kg placed at a distance of 4 m.

Ans. we already know the parameters of the following

G = 6.7 10-11Nm2/kg2

m1 = 40 kg

m2 = 60kg

r = 4m

According to The universal law of gravitation formula

F = Gm1m2r2

= 6.7 10-11 40*6042

= 6.7 10-11 24016

= 6.7 10-11 15

= 100.5 10-11N 

Or

=1.005 10-9N (Result)

The universal law of gravitation Applications

There are many applications of this law in science and they are as follows:

1. This law helps in discovering the new planets and stars in the universe.
2. This law helps in finding the masses of earth, sun, and other objects in the universe.
3. This law helps in predicting the tides which were due to the gravitational pull of the moon on earth.
4. This law helps to predict the astronomical bodies’ path.

The universal law of gravitation importance

Some of the importance of the universal law of gravitation is as follows:

1. This law explains the motion of the moon around the earth, the motion of artificial satellites in the orbit of the earth, and the movement of the earth on its orbit around the sun. 
2. This law also explains several phenomena like snowfall, rainfall, the flow of the river, etc., on the earth.
3. This law also explains the tides which were due to the sun and moon.
4. This law also ties astronomical objects from the earth.
5. This law also helps to maintain the artificial satellites in the orbit of the earth.
6.  This law also helps to keep us on the ground.

Conclusion

Gravitation is a universal law because it is applied to every object in the universe which has mass. All the bodies in the universe are astronomical bodies or artificial satellites that follow the law of gravitation. As we have studied in the above article about the universal law of gravitation, its formula with an example. In the above article, we have also described the other related topics of gravitation. Hopefully, we have answered all your questions related to the universal law of gravitation in the above article.