Profile
Settings
Refer your friends
Sign out
Gravitation is termed as a natural phenomenon that causes two bodies of any mass or energy to get attracted to each other. It is considered that there is a force persisting between the bodies that are causing this phenomenon of attraction, the force acting between the bodies is called the gravitational force. The gravitational force is dependent upon the mass of an object; the greater the mass of the object, the greater will be the gravitational force. Gravity was explained by the general theory of relativity postulated by Albert Einstein. However, gravity is a branch of physics that it’s still under exploration by modern science. Sir Isaac Newton postulated a law over the gravitational force, which came to be known as Newton’s Law of universal gravitation.
WHAT IS GRAVITATION?
The definition of gravitation states that a force acts between two bodies to cause a condition of attraction between them. In simple words, gravitation is said to be a natural phenomenon that causes two bodies to get attracted to each other. The force which causes this attraction is called the gravitational force, and it depends upon the mass of the bodies and the distance between them. The Earth’s gravitational force is said to be at its core, which tends to attract all of the objects towards itself, which ultimately gives weight to the objects depending upon their mass. Every little microscopic particle also experiences gravitation. Sir Isaac Newton came up with a law for the gravitational force acting between two bodies that are apart at a certain distance, which is called Newton’s Law of universal gravitation. Under this law, Newton postulated a formula to find out the value of the gravitational force acting between two individual bodies.
UNIVERSAL LAW OF GRAVITATION:
Newton postulated a universal law of gravitation, in which he derived the formula to find out the gravitational force between the two bodies. He stated that the gravitational force acting on two bodies is directly proportional to the product of the masses of the objects and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between two objects, i.e., the less is the distance between the two objects, the more will be the gravitational force between them. Mathematically, it can be expressed as.
ACCELERATION DUE TO GRAVITY:
Suppose the body is free-falling under the influence of gravity. In that case, they attain an acceleration because of the Earth’s gravitational force acting on that body, which is termed as the acceleration due to gravity. As it has a magnitude as well as a direction, it is a vector quantity. Acceleration due to gravity is denoted by ‘g’ and it is always directed in the downward direction.
EXAMPLES:
Gravitational force can be observed everywhere in our daily life. Several examples of gravitational forces are.
- Walking is the most common example of gravitational force. Our feet remain directly in contact with Earth because the gravitational force is acting on us constantly.
- The gravitational force of the moon is the cause of tidal effects on the Earth.
- The gravitational force of the Earth assures the movement of the moon in a fixed orbit.
- The planets in this space are fixed to their particular orbit under the influence of the Sun’s gravitational force.
- Every object on the Earth falls in the downward direction due to the gravitational force of the Earth.
- A drop of rain or snow that comes in the downward direction is due to the gravitational force of the Earth, which is attracting those precipitation towards itself.
CONCLUSION:
Gravitational force is termed as a natural phenomenon that occurs between two objects that have a mass or energy. Gravitational force can be observed everywhere around. The earthly gravitational force is the reason that every object is attracted in a downward direction. Newton’s Universal law of gravitation postulated a formula for determining the gravitational constant between two bodies, which is directly proportional to the mass of both the bodies and inversely proportional to the distance between the bodies. Apart from the gravitational force, it is required to have a basic knowledge of the theory of relativity and Newton’s law of forces.
