Gravitation
Gravitation
It is the force of attraction between any two bodies. All the objects in
the universe attract each other with a certain amount of force, but in
most cases, the force is too weak to be observed due to the very large
distance of separation. Besides, gravity’s range is infinite but the effect
becomes weaker as objects move away.
Examples:
The force that causes the ball to come down is known as gravity
Gravity keeps the planets in orbit around the sun.
Gravity is the force that causes a rock to roll downhill.
Newton’ s Universal Law of Gravitation
Newton’s Law of gravitation states that every object in the universe
attracts every other object by a force that is directly proportional to
the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of
the distance between them.
Relation between Newton’s third law of motion and Newton’s law of
gravitation:
According to Newton’s third law of motion, “Every object exerts equal and
opposite force on other object but in opposite direction. ”
” According to Newton’s law of gravitation, “Every mass in the universe
attracts the every other mass. ”
In case of freely falling stone and earth, stone is attracted towards earth
means earth attracts the stone but according to Newton’s third law of motion,
the stone should also attract the earth and really it is true that stone also
attracts the earth with the same force F = m × a but due to very less mass of
the stone, the acceleration (a) in its velocity is 9.8 m/s2 and acceleration (a)
of earth towards stone is 1.65 × 10-24 m/s2 which is negligible and we cannot
feel it.
Importance of universal law of Gravitation:
The force that binds us to the earth.
The motion of moon around the earth.
The motion of earth around the sun.
The tides due to moon in the sea.
Free Fall:
When an object is thrown upward, it reaches certain height, then it starts
falling down towards earth. It is because the earth‘s gravitational force
exerts on it.
This fall under the influence of earth is called ‘free fall of an object‘.
During this free fall direction do not change but velocity continuously
changes which is called acceleration due to gravity.
Its unit is same as acceleration m/s.
When an object is under free fall, acceleration due to gravity is constant
at g = 9.8ms-2.
Value of g does not depend on mass i.e. any object big or small experiences
the same acceleration due to gravity under free fall. All three equations of
motion are valid for freely falling objects as it is under uniform motion.
The sign of convention → towards earth g is positive/ away from earth g is
negative.
Gravitational Acceleration:
G 〓 6.673 × 10 Nm /kg , M 〓 6 × 10 kg, R 〓 (6.37 × 10 ) m
-11 2 2 24 2 6 2 2
Then,
ReIQtionship Qnd difference between‘G’Qnd‘g’: G 〓
GrQvitQtionQI constQnt
〓
g AcceIerQtion due to grQvity
Difference between G and g :
Equation of motion when an object is falling freely towards earth or
thrown vertically upwards :
There are three equations of motion.
For free-falling bodies when falling with uniform accelerated motion,
these equations of motion under uniform acceleration can be applied to the
motion of freely falling bodies.
For a falling object, the acceleration due to gravity is ‘g’, so ‘a’ is replaced
with ‘g’ while the distance ‘s’ of the freely falling bodies is replaced by the
height ‘h’ of the freely falling bodies.
(a) The first equation of motion,
becomes
v = final velocity
u = initial velocity
g = acceleration due to gravity
t = time taken by the body
(b) The second equation of motion,
becomes
ℎ = distance travelled by the body
t = time taken
u = initial velocity
g = acceleration due to gravity
(c)the third equation of motion,
becomes
v = final velocity
u = initial velocity
g = acceleration due to gravity
ℎ = distance travelled by the body
Mass:
It can be defined as the measure of the amount of matter in a body.
The SI unit of mass is Kilogram (kg).
The mass of a body does not change at any time.
Weight:
It is the measure of the force of gravity acting on a body.
The formula for weight is given by:
As weight is a force its SI unit is also the same as that of force, SI unit
of weight is Newton (N).
It depends on mass and the acceleration due to gravity, the mass may
not change but the acceleration due to gravity does change from
place to place.
The weight of an object on the Moon is 1/6 times the weight on
Earth.
Difference between Mass and Weight:
Thrust and Pressure
Thrust: Force acting on an object perpendicular to the surface is called
thrust. The effect of thrust depends on the area of contact.
Pressure: Pressure is defined as the force per unit area. If a force F is
applied on a surface of area A, then the pressure P is defined as:
Unit of Pressure : N/m 2 or Pascal (Pa).
Buoyancy: The buoyant force is the upward force exerted on an object
wholly or partly immersed in a fluid. This upward force is also called
Upthrust. Due to the buoyant force, a body submerged partially or fully in a
fluid appears to lose its weight, i.e. appears to be lighter
The following factors affect buoyant force:
the density of the fluid
the volume of the fluid displaced
the local acceleration due to gravity
Density: The mass per unit volume is called density of an object. If M is the
mass and V is the volume, then density (d) is:
Archimedes‘ Principle: “The upward buoyant force that is exerted on a
body immersed in a fluid, whether partially or fully submerged, is equal to
the weight of the fluid that the body displaces and acts in the upward
direction at the center of mass of the displaced fluid” .
Applications of Archimedes’ principle:
Submarine
Hot- air balloon
Hydrometer
Relative density:
The ratio of the density of a substance to that of the density of water is
called relative density.
It has no unit.
