CHAPTER 13

Universal Gravitation
 Newton’s 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

• G is the universal gravitational constant

and equals 6.673 x 10-11 Nm2 / kg2
 Finding the Value of G
• In 1789 Henry Cavendish
measured G

• The two masses are fixed at

the ends of a light horizontal
rod

• Two large masses were placed

near the small ones

• The angle of rotation was

measured
• 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

• The negative sign indicates an attractive force

•
• The forces form a Newton’s Third Law action-
reaction pair

• Gravitation is a field force that always exists

between two particles, regardless of the
medium between them

• The force decreases

rapidly as distance
increases
• A consequence of the
inverse square law
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 magnitude of 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
• Chapter 13 Slido Question 1
Chapter 3
Homework
1, 5, 6, 7
 G vs. g
• Always distinguish between G and g

• G is the universal gravitational constant

• It is the same everywhere

• g is the acceleration due to gravity

• g = 9.80 m/s2 at the surface of the Earth
• g will vary by location
 Finding g from G
• The magnitude of the force acting on an object
of mass m in freefall near the Earth’s surface
is mg

• This can be set equal to the force of universal

gravitation acting on the object
ME m
mg G 2
RE
ME
g G 2
RE
 g Above the Earth’s Surface
• If an object is some distance h above the
Earth’s surface, r becomes RE + h

GME
g
RE  h 
2

• This shows that g decreases with increasing

altitude

• As ,the weight of the object approaches

zero
Variation of g with Height
 Question for Discussion…

• Are the astronauts in the space

station weightless?
• Why does the Moon orbit the Earth?

• Is the space station closer to or

farther from the Earth than the
Moon is?
Chapter 13
Homework
2, 8, 9
• Chapter 13 Slido Questions 2-3
 Example 13 – 1
a) Find the acceleration of gravity at the altitude
at which the International Space Station
orbits. This altitude is 350 km. 8.83 m/s2
b) Why do the astronauts experience
weightlessness given that this value is non-
zero? Example 13 – 2
a) Using the acceleration of gravity at the Earth’s
surface and the Earth’s radius, 6.37 x 106 m to
find the average density of the Earth.
5.51 x 103 kg/m3
b) If the average density of a rock at the surface
is 2.70x103 kg/m3, what does this tell us about
the interior of the Earth?
 Johannes Kepler
• 1571 – 1630

• German astronomer

• Best known for

developing laws of
planetary motion
• Based on the observations
of Tycho Brahe
 Kepler’s Laws
• Kepler’s First Law
• All planets move in elliptical orbits with the Sun at
one focus

• Kepler’s Second Law

• The radius vector drawn from the Sun to a planet
sweeps out equal areas in equal time intervals

• Kepler’s Third Law

• The square of the orbital period of any planet is
proportional to the cube of the semimajor axis of
the elliptical orbit
 Notes About Ellipses
• F1 and F2 are each a focus of the ellipse
• They are located a distance c from the center
• The sum of r1 and r2 remains constant

• The longest
distance through
the center is the
major axis
• a is the semimajor
axis
• The shortest distance through the center is
the minor axis
• b is the semiminor axis

• The eccentricity of the ellipse is defined as

e = c /a
• For a circle, e = 0
• The range of values of the
eccentricity for ellipses is
0<e<1
• The higher the value of e, the
longer and thinner the ellipse
 Planetary Orbits
• The Sun is at one focus
• Nothing is located at the other focus

• Aphelion is the point farthest away from the

Sun
• The distance for aphelion is a + c
• For an orbit around the Earth, this point is called the
apogee

• Perihelion is the point nearest the Sun

• The distance for perihelion is a – c
• For an orbit around the Earth, this point is called the
perigee
 Kepler’s First Law
• A circular orbit is a special case of the general
elliptical orbits

• Is a direct result of the inverse square nature

of the gravitational force

• Elliptical (and circular) orbits are allowed for

bound objects
• A bound object repeatedly orbits the center
• An unbound object would pass by and not return
• These objects could have paths that are parabolas
(e = 1) and hyperbolas (e > 1)
 Orbit Examples
• Mercury has the highest eccentricity of any planet (a)
• eMercury = 0.21
• Halley’s comet has an orbit with high eccentricity (b)
• eHalley’s comet = 0.97
• Remember nothing physical is located at the second
focus
 Kepler’s Second Law
• Is a consequence of
conservation of angular
momentum

• The force produces no

torque, so angular
momentum is
conserved
• Geometrically, in a time dt, the radius vector r sweeps
out the area dA, which is half the area of the
parallelogram, .

• The displacement of the planet in time dt is given by

So dA = ½
• So dA L
 constant
dt 2M p

• The radius vector from the Sun to any

planet sweeps out equal areas in equal
times

• The law applies to any central force,

whether inverse-square or not
 Kepler’s Third Law
• Can be predicted from
2
the inverse square GM M M v
Sun Planet
 Planet
law r 2
r
2 r
• Start by assuming a v
T
circular orbit
2  4  3
2
3
T   r KS r
• The gravitational force  GMSun 
supplies a centripetal
force

• Ks is a constant
• This can be extended to an elliptical orbit

• Replace r with a
• Remember a is the semimajor axis

2  4  3
2
3
T   a K S a
 GMSun 

• Ks is independent of the mass of the planet,

and so is valid for any object orbiting the Sun
in our solar system.
• If an object is orbiting another object, the
value of K will depend on the object being
orbited

• For example, for the Moon around the

Earth, KSun is replaced with KEarth
Chapter 13
Homework
3, 10
• Chapter 13 Slido Question 4
 Example 13 – 3
Given that the sidereal period (the period
measured with respect to the stars which are
effectively unmoving) of the Moon is 27.3 days,
find the semi-major axis of its orbit about the
Earth. (The mass of the Moon is 7.36 x 1022 kg
and the mass of the Earth is 5.98 x 1024 kg.)
3.83×105 km

Example 13 – 4
Jupiter orbits the Sun at a distance of 5.20 AU
(astronomical units: 1 AU = the mean Earth-Sun
distance). Find the orbital period in Earth days.
4.33×103 d = 11.9 yr
• Chapter 13 Slido Questions 5 - 6
 The Gravitational Field
• A gravitational field exists at every point in
space

• When a particle of mass m is placed at a

point where the gravitational field is , the
particle experiences a force

• The field exerts a force on the particle

• The gravitational field is defined as

• The gravitational field is the gravitational force

experienced by a test particle placed at that point
divided by the mass of the test particle

• The presence of the test particle is not necessary

for the field to exist

• The source particle creates the field

• The gravitational field
vectors point in the
direction of the
acceleration a
particle would
experience if placed
in that field

• The magnitude is that

of the freefall
acceleration at that
location
• 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

• Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity describes

the gravitational field in terms of a curved space-
time. The shape of space is actually distorted by
the presence of a massive object.
 Example 13 – 6
A pair of spheres of equal mass, M, are
separated by distance 2a.
a) Find the gravitational field at a point a
distance r from the line between the 2 spheres
on the perpendicular bisector of this line.
b) Explain why the field should approach 0 as r
approaches 0 and prove this mathematically.
c) Explain and prove mathematically why the
field should approach 2GM/r2 as r approaches
infinity.
 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 ΔU
 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 = ∞

• This is valid only for r ≥ RE and not valid for r < RE

(Why do you think this is the case?)
• U is negative because of the choice of Ui
• Graph of the
gravitational
potential energy U
versus r for an
object above the
Earth’s surface

• The potential
energy goes to zero
as r approaches
infinity
 General Gravitational Potential Energy
• 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
• 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
 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 superposition principle
• Each pair of particles contributes a term of U
• Assuming three particles:
U total U12  U13  U 23
 m1m2 m1m3 m2m3 
 G    
 r12 r13 r23 
• The absolute value of Utotal represents the work
needed to separate the particles by an infinite
distance
Chapter 13
Homework
11, 12, 13
 Binding Energy

• 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
 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 system’s
kinetic and potential energies
E=K+U
1 2 Mm
E  mv  G
2 r
 Escape Speed from Earth
• An object of mass m is projected
upward from the Earth’s surface
with an initial speed, vi
• The minimum initial speed
needed to allow the object to
move infinitely far away from the
Earth is called the escape speed.
2GME
v esc 
RE
• vesc is independent of the mass
• vesc is independent of the
direction of the velocity and
ignores air resistance
 General Escape Speed
• The Earth’s result can be
extended to any planet,
moon, star, or system.

2GM
v esc 
R

• The table at right gives

some escape speeds from
various objects
 Example 13 – 7
a) What initial speed would a projectile need to
have at the surface in order to escape
Earth’s gravity and travel to infinity?

1.11 × 104 m/s

Chapter 13
Homework

4, 14
 Implications of Escape Speed
• 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
 Black Holes
• Stellar remnants:
• white dwarfs – electron degeneracy pressure
• neutron stars – neutron degeneracy pressure
• black holes

• 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
• The critical radius at which
the escape speed equals c
is called the
Schwarzschild radius, RS

• The imaginary surface of a

sphere with this radius is
called the event horizon
• This is the limit of how
close light can approach
the black hole and still
escape