Gravitation

Gravitation
• Earth attracts everything towards it by an unseen force of attraction.
• This force of attraction is known as gravitation or gravitational pull.

Universal Law of Gravitation

• Every object in the universe attracts other object by a force of attraction,
called gravitation, which is directly proportional to the product of masses
of the objects and inversely proportional to the square of distance
between them.
• This is called Law of Gravitation or Universal Law of Gravitation.

Let masses (M) and (m) of two objects are distance (d) apart. Let F be the attractional
force between two masses.

Importance of The Universal Law of Gravitation

• It binds us to the earth.
• It is responsible for the motion of the moon around the earth.
• It is responsible for the motion of planets around the Sun.
• Gravitational force of moon causes tides in seas on earth.

Free Fall
When an object falls from any height under the influence of gravitational force
only, it is known as free fall.

Acceleration Due to Gravity

• When an object falls towards the earth there is a change in its velocity due to
the gravitational force of the earth.
• So, this acceleration is called acceleration due to gravity.
• The acceleration due to gravity is denoted by g.
• The unit of ‘g’ is same as the unit of acceleration, i.e., ms−2

Mathematical Expression for g

From the second law of motion, force is the product of mass
and acceleration. F = ma

For free fall, acceleration is replaced by acceleration due to gravity.

Therefore, force becomes: F = mg --- (i)
But from Universal Law of Gravitation,

Factors Affecting the Value of g

• As the radius of the earth increases from the poles to the equator, the value
of g becomes greater at the poles than at the equator.
• As we go at large heights, value of g decreases.
 To Calculate the Value of g

Value of universal gravitational constant, G = 6.7 × 10–11 N m2/ kg2,

Mass of the earth, M = 6 × 1024 kg, and
Radius of the earth, R = 6.4 × 106 m
Putting all these values in equation (iii), we get:

Thus, the value of acceleration due to gravity of the earth, g = 9.8 m/s2.

Difference between Gravitation Constant (G) and Gravitational Acceleration (g)

S. No. Gravitation Constant (G) Gravitational acceleration (g)

1. Its value is 6.67×10-11Nm2/kg2. Its value is 9.8 m/s2.

2. It is a scalar quantity. It is a vector quantity.

3. Its value remains constant always and Its value varies at various places.
everywhere.

4. Its unit is Nm2/kg2. Its unit is m/s2.

Motion of Objects Under the Influence of Gravitational Force of the Earth

• Let an object is falling towards earth with initial velocity u.
• Let its velocity, under the effect of gravitational acceleration g, changes
to v after covering the height h in time t.
• Then the three equations of motion can be represented as:
v = u + gt
s = ut + ½gt2
v2 = u2 + 2gh
• The value of g is taken as positive in case of the object is moving towards
earth and taken as negative in case of the object is thrown in opposite
direction of the earth.

Mass & weight

Mass (m)
• The mass of a body is the quantity of matter contained in it.
• Mass is a scalar quantity which has only magnitude but no direction.
• Mass of a body always remains constant and does not change from place to place.
• SI unit of mass is kilogram (kg).
• Mass of a body can never be zero.
 Weight (W)
• The force with which an object is attracted towards the centre of the earth, is called
the weight of the object.

Now, Force = m × a
But in case of earth, a = g
∴F=m×g
But the force of attraction of earth on an object is called its weight (W).
∴ W = mg
• As weight always acts vertically downwards, therefore, weight has both magnitude
and direction and thus it is a vector quantity.
• The weight of a body changes from place to place, depending on mass of object.
• The SI unit of weight is Newton.
• Weight of the object becomes zero if g is zero.

Weight of an Object on the Surface of Moon

Mass of an object is same on earth as well as on moon. But weight is different.
Weight of an object is given as,
 𝟏
weight of the object on the moon = 𝟔
× its weight on the earth.

Circular Motion & Gravitational Force

• In circular motion, a force must act on body as its direction of velocity
changes. Which means velocity changes which means there must be an
acceleration.
• If there is an acceleration there must be a force. This force is called
Centripetal force.
• When moon revolves around earth in circular path, gravitational force of earth
provides the centripetal force to moon for circular motion,
• When planets revolve around Sun, gravitational force of Sun provides the
centripetal force to planets.
 Thrust and Pressure

Thrust: Force exerted by an object perpendicular to the surface is called thrust.

Pressure: Pressure is defined as thrust or force per unit area on a surface.
𝑻𝒉𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒕
𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 =
𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒂
• SI unit of pressure is Newton/meter2 (𝑁⁄𝑚2 ).
• SI unit of pressure is called Pascal (Pa).

Factors affecting Pressure

Pressure depends on two factors:

(i) Force applied

(ii) Area of surface over which force acts

Since, pressure is indirectly proportional to the surface area of the object, so,
pressure increases with a decrease in surface area and decreases with an increase
in surface area.

Applications of Pressure in daily life

• The base of high buildings is made wider to spread the weight of the whole building
over a large surface area due to which less pressure acts on the ground.
• School bags are provided with broad straps so that the weight of school bags fall
over a larger area of the shoulder and produce less pressure hence making it easy
to carry.
• The blades of knives are made sharp so that on applying force on it, a large pressure
is produced on the very small surface area, thus cutting the object easily.

Pressure in Fluids
• Anything that can flow is called Fluid. Example: liquid and gas.
• Molecules of a fluid move randomly and collide with walls of vessel. Thus, fluids
apply pressure on walls.
• Fluids exert pressure in all directions.

Buoyancy & Buoyant Force

• Force applied by the fluid on a solid which is partially or fully submerged in liquid,
is called the buoyant force and this phenomenon is named as buoyancy.
• Buoyant force acts in upward direction and it depends on the density of the fluid.
Factors affecting the Buoyant Force
• Magnitude of the buoyant force depends on two factors.
o Volume of the object immersed in liquid
o Density of the liquid

Why does an object sink or float over water?

 • When an object is immersed in water, it exerts pressure over water due to its
weight.
• At the same time water also exerts upward thrust, i.e., buoyant force over the
object.
• If the force exerted by the object is greater than the buoyant force of water,
the object sinks in water.
• If the force exerted by the object is less than the buoyant force of water, the
object floats over water.

Archimedes’ Principle
It states that when a body is immersed fully or partially in a fluid, it experiences an
upward force that is equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by it.

Applications of Archimedes’ Principle:

• It is used in designing ships and submarines.
• It is used in determining relative density of substances.
• Hydrometers used to determine the density of liquids, work on this principle.
• Lactometers used to determine purity of milk, are also based on this principle.
• It is because of this principle that ship made of iron and steel floats in water whereas a
small piece of iron like nail, sinks in it.

Density (ρ)
• The mass per unit volume is called density of an object.
𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐬
𝐃𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 (𝛒) =
𝐕𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐦𝐞
𝑘𝑔⁄
• SI unit of density = 𝑚3

Relative density

• It is the ratio of the density of a substance to the density of water.

𝐃𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞
𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 =
𝐃𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫

• Since relative density is a ratio of similar quantities, it has no unit.

Applications of density
• If an object has density less than that of the liquid, it will float over that liquid.
• If an object has density more than that of a liquid, it will sink in that liquid.
• When the relative density of a substance is less than 1, it will float in water otherwise
it will sink in water.