Gravity: A Force of Attraction

It all starts with an apple…

 One beautiful spring day in 1655, a man named
Isaac Newton was sitting under an apple tree in
his garden, enjoying a glass of tea.
 Suddenly, one of the apples fell and crashed on
his head.

Disclaimer: This last part has been fictionalized, most

believe that the apple did not actually hit Newton on the
head, but rather fell nearby and caught his attention.
A story about an apple
 That got Newton thinking (once the
bump had gone down of course).
 “Why did the apple fall towards the
Earth?”
 “Why did it not “shoot upwards''
when it came away from the
branch?”
 And, “why did I plant that stupid
apple tree anyway?!!''
A story about an apple
 Newton knew that
unbalanced forces are
necessary to move or
change the motion of
objects.
 So, he came up with the
idea that the Earth must
attract the apple towards it
with some “unseen force''.
 He named this force
gravity.
 Gravity is a force of attraction between
objects.
 The atoms of one object pull on the atoms of
another object.
 It's like the Earth pulling on you and keeping
you on the ground.
 That pull is gravity at work.
All matter is affected by gravity
 Definition of matter:
 Matter is anything that has mass and volume.
 Since all matter has mass, all matter is
affected by gravity.
 Gravity (aka: gravitational force) pulls
objects towards each other.
 It acts on anything with mass.
Ok, then why don’t we see objects
being pulled towards one another?

 This is because the mass of most objects is

too small to cause an attraction large enough
to cause the objects to move towards each
other.
 Even though gravity is “pulling” the pencil
you’re holding, its mass is so small that it’s
not really moving.
 There is, however, one object that is big
enough to cause a noticeable attraction…
Gravity on Earth
 The Earth!
 Earth has an enormous
mass and thus an enormous
gravitational force.
 When the Earth spins and
gravity pulls on the clouds,
weather can be affected.
 The Earth's gravity even
holds the atmosphere close
to our surface.
The Law of Universal Gravitation
 Now that we know what gravity is, let’s
go back to Newton.
 He generalized his observation in
something called the Law of Universal
Gravitation.
 This law states: All objects in the
universe attract each other through
gravitational force.
The Law of Universal Gravitation
The size of the gravitational force
depends on two things:
1. Mass of the objects
2. Distance between the objects
 Cavendish Experiment

Find the constant, G

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The law of universal gravitation
The formula for this law is:
F = G x m1 x m2
r2
F = force
G = gravitational constant = 6.673
x 10-11 Nm2/kg2 - always an
uppercase G, do not confuse
with g, which is for gravity
M = objects’ mass
R = distance between objects
The law of universal gravitation
Basically, there are two major parts to this law
that you need to know:
1. Gravitational force increases as mass
increases
2. Gravitational force decreases as
distance increases
What is weight?
 Weight is a measure of the gravitational
force exerted on an object.
 Most of the time, when we’re talking about
weight, we’re referring to the Earth’s
gravitational force on an object.
 Since gravity is a force and weight is a
measure of gravity, weight is expressed in
newtons (N).
 On Earth, a 100 gram object would weigh 1 N.
What is mass?
 Mass is the amount of matter in an object.
 This does not change… ever!
 Whereas weight changes when gravity changes,
mass always remains the same.
 Remember, mass is measured with a balance,
where the mass of one object is compared to
another object.
 On Earth, mass and weight are both constant
since gravity is a constant force, which is why
they seem like the same thing to us.
 Part 2
Gravity & Motion

Chapter 6.1
Actually, it all started with a
cannonball…
 Well, and before the
cannonball, it started with a
philosopher & scientist
named Aristotle.
 In ancient Greece around
400 BC, he proposed that
the rate at which an object
falls depends on its mass.
 In other words, Aristotle
believed that the heavier
the object, the faster it falls.
A story about a cannonball
 In the late 1500s, an Italian
scientist named Galileo
Galilei decided to prove
Aristotle wrong.
 Galileo theorized that all
objects will land at the same
time when they are dropped
from the same height.
 To prove this to his critics,
he set up a little experiment.
A story about a cannonball
 Galileo carried a cannonball and a wooden ball up
the 300 steps of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
 Dropping the two different balls at exactly the
same time, the crowd was amazed with what they
saw…
 The two balls, with extremely different masses,
landed at the exact same time!

Disclaimer: this story may or may not be true, but a similar

and well-documented experiment was performed by
Benedetti Giambattista in 1553.
A story about a cannonball
 Can we demonstrate this?
Elephants & feathers
 What did Galileo prove?
 Objects fall to the ground at the
same rate because acceleration
due to gravity is the same for
all objects.
 For example, an elephant and a
feather fall with the same
acceleration even though they
have different masses.
Gravity &
Acceleration
 The rate at which
objects accelerate
towards Earth is 9.8
m/s/s.
 This acceleration is the
same for all objects,
regardless of their
mass.
 In other words, falling
objects accelerate at a
constant rate of 9.8
m/s2.
 Gravity = g = 9.8 m/s2
 Gravity &
Acceleration
 Notice, the ball isn’t
traveling at 9.8m/s2, it’s
accelerating at 9.8 m/s2.
 It’s velocity is continually
increasing.
 Only the acceleration
remains constant.
 Each picture was taken 1
second apart, but notice
how the ball travels a
greater distance between
each second.
Air Resistance
 Watch me drop two pieces of paper, one
crumpled in a tight ball and the other kept flat.
 As you know, the crumpled paper has more
velocity and hits the ground first, whereas the
flat paper sashays slowly until it lands on the
ground.
 You also know that air has friction & causes the
objects to move more slowly.
Air Resistance

 The amount of air resistance depends on the size

and shape of an object.
 Air resistance increases as an object’s speed
increases and its surface area (or cross-sectional)
increases.
 While gravity pulls an object down, towards the
Earth, the air resistance pushes an object up, or
away from the Earth.
Free Fall
 When there is no air
resistance, an object is in
free fall.
 An object is in free fall only
if gravity is pulling it
down and no other
forces are acting on it.
 Free fall can only occur
where there is no air, such
as in a vacuum.
The role of gravity in orbit
 In space, there is very little gravity.
 This is because the distances between
you and other large objects are so vast,
the force is minimal.
 You would still have mass, and because
there is still a little bit of gravity, you
would still have some weight.
The role of gravity in orbit
 We know that an object in orbit is traveling in a
circular or near-circular path around another
object.
 There are two forces that act on a spaceship in
orbit.
 First, gravity is pulling the spaceship back to
earth, so technically, the shuttle is in free fall.
 Second, the shuttle is being propelled forward and
is moving at a constant speed.
 As a result, the path of the orbit is a curved
combination of the two forces.
 Some additional info:
Terminal Velocity
 Watch as this sky-diver falls.
 Once the parachute opens, the upwards force of the air
resistance begins to counter the downwards force of gravity.
 Eventually, his acceleration slows to 0 m/s2.
Terminal Velocity
 As an object falls, the air resistance is
continually increasing.
 Eventually, the force of the air resistance will
match the force of gravity pulling the object
down.
 When this happens, the overall force is 0 N
and the object stops accelerating.
 The object is now falling a constant velocity,
which is called the terminal velocity.