Chapter 13

Newtons Law of Universal

Gravitation
Every particle in the Universe attracts every other particle
with a force that is directly proportional to the product of
their masses and inversely proportional to the distance
between them
Fg G

m1m2
r2

G is the universal gravitational constant and equals

6.673 10-11 Nm2 / kg2

Law of Gravitation, cont

This is an example of an inverse square law
The magnitude of the force varies as the inverse square of the separation of
the particles
The law can also be expressed in vector form

F12 G

m1m2
r12
2
r12

Where F12 is the force of particle 1 on 2 and the negative sign indicates that
the direction of this force is opposite to the direction of the unit vector
directed from particle 1 to particle 2.
The negative sign also indicates that particle 2 is attracted toward particle 1.

More About Forces

F12 F21
The forces form a Newtons Third
Law action-reaction pair

Gravitation is a field force that

always exists between two particles,
regardless of the medium between
them

As a consequence of the inverse

square law, the force of attraction
decreases rapidly as distance
increases

Gravitational Force Due to a

Distribution of Mass
The gravitational force exerted by a finite-size,
spherically symmetric mass distribution on a
particle outside the distribution is the same as
if the entire mass of the distribution were
concentrated at the center
The force exerted by the Earth on a particle of
mass m near the surface of the Earth is
ME m
Fg G 2
RE

The Gravitational Field

A gravitational field exists at every point in space. The
gravitational field describes the effect that any object has on
the empty space around itself in terms of the force that would be
present if a second object were somewhere in that space
When a particle of mass m is placed at a point where the
gravitational field is g, the particle experiences a force
The field exerts a force on the particle
Thus the gravitational field is the gravitational force
experienced by a test particle placed at that point divided by the
mass of the test particle
g

Fg

GM
r
2
r

The presence of the test particle is not necessary for the field to
exist

Gravitational Field Lines

The gravitational field can
be visualized by means of
field lines which give the
direction of the
acceleration a particle
would experience if
placed in that field.
In fact, the magnitude of

the field and a given

point is that of the
freefall acceleration at
Fg
GM
that location
g
2 r
m

ME m
mg G 2
RE
ME
g G 2
RE

g Above the Earths Surface

If an object is some distance h above the
Earths surface, r becomes RE + h
g

GME

RE h

This shows that g decreases with increasing

altitude
As r goes to infinity, the weight of the object
approaches zero

Variation of g with Height

The international space station operates at an altitude of 350 km.

Plans for the final construction show that material of weight
4.22x106N measured at the earths surface. What is the weight of
the space station when in orbits?

Gravitational Potential Energy

The gravitational force is conservative
The change in gravitational potential energy of a system
associated with a given displacement of a member of the
system is defined as the negative of the work done by the
gravitational force on that member during the displacement
rf

U U f U i F r dr
ri

As a particle moves from

A to B, its gravitational
potential energy changes
by U

Gravitational Potential Energy

for the Earth, cont
Graph of the
gravitational
potential energy U
versus r for an object
above the Earths
surface
The potential energy
goes to zero as r
approaches infinity

Gravitational Potential Energy for

the Earth
Choose the zero for the gravitational potential
energy where the force is zero
This means Ui = 0 where ri =
GME m
U (r )
r
This is valid only for r RE and not valid for r <
RE

Gravitational Potential Energy,

General
For any two particles, the gravitational potential energy
function becomes

Gm1m2
U
r

The gravitational potential energy between any two particles

varies as 1/r
Remember the force varies as 1/r 2
The potential energy is negative because the force is attractive
and we chose the potential energy to be zero at infinite
separation

 An external agent must do positive work to

increase the separation between two objects
The work done by the external agent produces an
increase in the gravitational potential energy as the
particles are separated
U becomes less negative

The absolute value of the potential energy can be

thought of as the binding energy
If an external agent applies a force larger than the
binding energy, the excess energy will be in the form
of kinetic energy of the particles when they are at
infinite separation

Systems with Three or More

Particles
The total gravitational
potential energy of the
system is the sum over all
pairs of particles
Gravitational potential
energy obeys the
Utotal U12 U13 U23
superposition principle
m1m2 m1m3 m2m3
G

r13
r23
r12

The absolute value of Utotal represents the work needed to

separate the particles by an infinite distance

Energy and Satellite Motion

Assume an object of mass m moving with a
speed v in the vicinity of a massive object of
mass M
M >> m

Also assume M is at rest in an inertial

reference frame
The total energy is the sum of the systems
kinetic and potential energies

1
Mm
2
E mv G
2
r

Total energy E = K +U

In a bound system, E is necessarily less than 0

Energy in a Circular Orbit

An object of mass m is
moving in a circular orbit
about M
The gravitational force
supplies a centripetal
force
GMm
E
2r

Energy in a Circular Orbit, cont

The total mechanical energy is negative in the
case of a circular orbit
The kinetic energy is positive and is equal to
half the absolute value of the potential energy
The absolute value of E is equal to the binding
energy of the system

Escape Speed from Earth

An object of mass m is projected upward
from the Earths surface with an initial
speed, vi
Use energy considerations to find the
minimum value of the initial speed needed
to allow the object to move infinitely far
away from the Earth

This minimum speed is called the escape speed

v esc

2GME
RE

Note, vesc is independent of the mass of the

object
The result is independent of the direction of the
velocity and ignores air resistance

Escape Speed, General

The Earths result can
be extended to any
planet
v esc

2GM
R

The table at right gives

some escape speeds
from various objects

Escape Speed, Implications

Complete escape from an object is not really possible
The gravitational field is infinite and so some gravitational
force will always be felt no matter how far away you can
get
This explains why some planets have atmospheres and others
do not
Lighter molecules have higher average speeds and are more
likely to reach escape speeds

A black hole is the remains of a star that has collapsed under

its own gravitational force
The escape speed for a black hole is very large due to the
concentration of a large mass into a sphere of very small radius
If the escape speed exceeds the speed of light, radiation
cannot escape and it appears black