Unit 6 - Gravitational Fields & The Expanding Universe Flashcards
What does every object on the surface of the earth feel
Force of gravity
What exerts gravitational force on its objects
The earth itself on its surface
What holds the moon in its orbit
The earth
How to describe gravity as a force?
It acts at a distance
When is friction exerted?
When two objects touch
Newtons quantitative description of gravity
Gravity was a field that acted everywhere instantaneously
How did newton believee that the universe could be unsterstood and explained?
By studying and describing the behavior of its matter
What do we use to predict today when comets will pass by the Earth, to set satellites in motion around our planet, and also to send astronauts to the moon and someday mars.
Newtons dynamics and Keplers laws
What are fields?
Fields are regions of influence surround an object. They are invisible and intangible.
What are field models?
Used to explain how two objects are exerting (applying) forces on each other without touching. When a second object is placed into this region, this field exerts a force on the object and can cause the object to change motion.
Invented the concept of the field to help explain how a magnet attracts an object. Later the field concept was applied to gravity.
Michael Faraday
Anything that has mas is ___
Surrounded by a gravitational field
The field that acts on the second body, resulting in ______
A force of attraction
What can be used to show the gravitational field surrounding an object with mass?
Vectors
What direction is the force of gravity always?
Inwards
Zero point
A point between the earth and the moon where you would feel no gravitational pull from either celestial body
The radius of the Earth is about __ that of the orbital radius of the moon
1/60
The radial acceleration of the moon is about __ that of the acceleration of objects near the surface of the earth
1/3600
The gravitational force exerted on any objects by the earth ________ with the _____ of its distance (radius from the earths cenered)
decreases
increases
Newton reasoned that the magnitude of the force of gravity must be proportional to ___
the mass
What is Newtons law of universal gravitation
Every particle in the universe attracts every other particle with a force that is proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. This force acts along the line joining the two particles.
Newtons Law of Universal Gravitation shows that the force of gravity depends on what?
Both upon the mass of the two objects and the distance between them
Inverse square law
The force of gravity described by Newton is inversely proportional with the square of the distance between the two masses
Henry Cavendish
In 1798, experimentally determined the value of G
Where does the earth bulge?
At the equator
What place is the closest to the center to the earth?
North and South pole
Place that is furthest from the center of the earth
Equator
What additionally effects the value of g
The rotation of the earth
How is the mass of the earth distributed?
Unevenly