# 6.5 Newton's universal law of gravitation  (Page 8/13)

 Page 8 / 13

## Test prep for ap courses

Jupiter has a mass approximately 300 times greater than Earth's and a radius about 11 times greater. How will the gravitational acceleration at the surface of Jupiter compare to that at the surface of the Earth?

1. Greater
2. Less
3. About the same
4. Not enough information

(a)

Given Newton's universal law of gravitation (Equation 6.40), under what circumstances is the force due to gravity maximized?

In the formula $g=\frac{GM}{{r}^{2}}$ , what does G represent?

1. The acceleration due to gravity
2. A gravitational constant that is the same everywhere in the universe
3. A gravitational constant that is inversely proportional to the radius
4. The factor by which you multiply the inertial mass to obtain the gravitational mass

(b)

Saturn's moon Titan has a radius of 2.58 × 10 6 m and a measured gravitational field of 1.35 m/s 2 . What is its mass?

A recently discovered planet has a mass twice as great as Earth's and a radius twice as large as Earth's. What will be the approximate size of its gravitational field?

1. 19 m/s 2
2. 4.9 m/s 2
3. 2.5 m/s 2
4. 9.8 m/s 2

(b)

4. Earth is 1.5 × 10 11 m from the Sun. Mercury is 5.7 × 10 10 m from the Sun. How does the gravitational field of the Sun on Mercury ( g SM ) compare to the gravitational field of the Sun on Earth ( g SE )?

## Section summary

• Newton's universal law of gravitation: Every particle in the universe attracts every other particle with a force along a line joining them. The force is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. In equation form, this is
$F=G\frac{\text{mM}}{{r}^{2}}\text{,}$

where F is the magnitude of the gravitational force. $G$ is the gravitational constant, given by $G=6\text{.}\text{673}×{\text{10}}^{\text{–11}}\phantom{\rule{0.25em}{0ex}}\text{N}\cdot {\text{m}}^{2}{\text{/kg}}^{2}$ .

• Newton's law of gravitation applies universally.

## Conceptual questions

Action at a distance, such as is the case for gravity, was once thought to be illogical and therefore untrue. What is the ultimate determinant of the truth in physics, and why was this action ultimately accepted?

Two friends are having a conversation. Anna says a satellite in orbit is in freefall because the satellite keeps falling toward Earth. Tom says a satellite in orbit is not in freefall because the acceleration due to gravity is not $9.80 m{\text{/s}}^{2}$ . Who do you agree with and why?

Draw a free body diagram for a satellite in an elliptical orbit showing why its speed increases as it approaches its parent body and decreases as it moves away.

Newton's laws of motion and gravity were among the first to convincingly demonstrate the underlying simplicity and unity in nature. Many other examples have since been discovered, and we now expect to find such underlying order in complex situations. Is there proof that such order will always be found in new explorations?

#### Questions & Answers

Roofs are sometimes pushed off vertically during a tropical cyclone, and buildings sometimes explode outward when hit by a tornado. Use Bernoulli’s principle to explain these phenomena.
Plz answer the question ☝️☝️
Aliraza
what's the basic si unit of acceleration
Explain why the change in velocity is different in the two frames, whereas the change in kinetic energy is the same in both.
Insulators (nonmetals) have a higher BE than metals, and it is more difficult for photons to eject electrons from insulators. Discuss how this relates to the free charges in metals that make them good conductors.
Is the photoelectric effect a direct consequence of the wave character of EM radiation or of the particle character of EM radiation? Explain briefly.
Determine the total force and the absolute pressure on the bottom of a swimming pool 28.0m by 8.5m whose uniform depth is 1 .8m.
how solve this problem?
Foday
P(pressure)=density ×depth×acceleration due to gravity Force =P×Area(28.0x8.5)
Fomukom
for the answer to complete, the units need specified why
That's just how the AP grades. Otherwise, you could be talking about m/s when the answer requires m/s^2. They need to know what you are referring to.
Kyle
Suppose a speck of dust in an electrostatic precipitator has 1.0000×1012 protons in it and has a net charge of –5.00 nC (a very large charge for a small speck). How many electrons does it have?
how would I work this problem
Alexia
how can you have not an integer number of protons? If, on the other hand it supposed to be 1e12, then 1.6e-19C/proton • 1e12 protons=1.6e-7 C is the charge of the protons in the speck, so the difference between this and 5e-9C is made up by electrons
Igor
what is angular velocity
angular velocity can be defined as the rate of change in radian over seconds.
Fidelis
Why does earth exert only a tiny downward pull?
hello
Islam
Why is light bright?
what is radioactive element
an 8.0 capacitor is connected by to the terminals of 60Hz whoes rms voltage is 150v. a.find the capacity reactance and rms to the circuit
thanks so much. i undersooth well
what is physics
is the study of matter in relation to energy
Kintu
physics can be defined as the natural science that deals with the study of motion through space,time along with its related concepts which are energy and force
Fidelis
a submersible pump is dropped a borehole and hits the level of water at the bottom of the borehole 5 seconds later.determine the level of water in the borehole