Chapter 13

Lectures by Dr Sharafudeen K N Valappil

© 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. Modified from MP

 Learning Goals for Chapter 13
Looking forward at …
• how to calculate the gravitational forces that any two bodies
exert on each other.
• how to relate the weight of an object to the general
expression for gravitational force.
• how to calculate the speed, orbital period, and mechanical
energy of a satellite in a circular orbit.
• how to apply and interpret Kepler’s three laws that describe
the motion of planets.
• what black holes are, how to calculate their properties, and
how astronomers discover them.
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 Introduction
• What can we say
about the motion
of the particles that
make up Saturn’s
rings?
• Why doesn’t the
moon fall to earth,
or the earth into
the sun?
• By studying gravitation and celestial mechanics, we will be
able to answer these and other questions.

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 Newton’s law of gravitation

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 Newton’s law of gravitation
• Law of gravitation: Every particle of matter attracts every
other particle with a force that is directly proportional to the
product of their masses and inversely proportional to the
square of the distance between them:

• The gravitational constant G is a fundamental physical

constant that has the same value for any two particles.
• G = 6.67 × 10−11 N ∙ m2/kg2.

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 Gravitation and spherically symmetric bodies
• The gravitational effect
outside any spherically
symmetric mass distribution
is the same as though all of
the mass were concentrated
at its center.
• The force Fg attracting m1
and m2 on the left is equal to
the force Fg attracting the
two point particles m1 and m2
on the right, which have the
same masses and whose
centers are separated by the
same distance.
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 Gravitational attraction
• Our solar system is part of a spiral galaxy like this one, which
contains roughly 1011 stars as well as gas, dust, and other
matter.
• The entire assemblage is held
together by the mutual
gravitational attraction of all
the matter in the galaxy.

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 Weight
• The weight of a body is the total gravitational force exerted
on it by all other bodies in the universe.
• At the surface of the earth, we can neglect all other
gravitational forces, so a body’s weight is:

• The acceleration due to gravity at the earth’s surface is:

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 Walking and running on the moon
• You automatically transition
from a walk to a run when
the vertical force the ground
exerts on you exceeds your
weight.
• This transition from walking
to running happens at much
lower speeds on the moon,
where objects weigh only
17% as much as on earth.
• Hence, the Apollo astronauts found themselves running even
when moving relatively slowly during their moon “walks.”

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 Weight decreases with altitude

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 Interior of the earth
• The earth is approximately
spherically symmetric, but it is
not uniform throughout its
volume.
• The density ρ decreases with
increasing distance r from the
center.

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 Gravitational potential energy

• The change in gravitational

potential energy is defined as
−1 times the work done by the
gravitational force as the body
moves from r1 to r2.
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 Gravitational potential energy
• We define the gravitational potential energy U so that
Wgrav = U1 − U2:

• If the earth’s gravitational force on a body is the only force

that does work, then the total mechanical energy of the
system of the earth and body is constant, or conserved.

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 Gravitational potential energy depends on
distance
• The gravitational potential
energy of the earth–astronaut
system increases (becomes
less negative) as the
astronaut moves away from
the earth.

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 The motion of satellites

• The trajectory of a
projectile fired from a
great height (ignoring
air resistance) depends
on its initial speed.

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 Circular satellite orbits
• With a mass of approximately 4.5 × 105 kg and a width of
over 108 m, the International Space Station is the largest
satellite ever placed in orbit.

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 Circular satellite orbits
• For a circular orbit, the
speed of a satellite is just
right to keep its distance
from the center of the earth
constant.
• The force due to the
earth’s gravitational
attraction provides the
centripetal acceleration that
keeps a satellite in orbit.

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 Circular satellite orbits
• A satellite is constantly falling around the earth.
• Astronauts inside the satellite in orbit are in a state of
apparent weightlessness because they are falling with the
satellite.

© 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd.

 Gravitation

1. NEWTON’S LAW OF GRAVITATION

Along with his three laws of motion, Isaac Newton also published his law of gravitation in 1687.

Every particle of matter in the universe attracts every other particle with a force that is directly proportional
to the product of the masses of the particles and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.

where G = 6.6742× 10−11 N·m2/kg2 .

• The force between two objects are equal and opposite (Newton’s 3rd Law)

• Gravitational forces combine vectorially. If two masses exert forces on a third, the total force on the third
mass is the vector sum of the individual forces of the first two. This is the principle of superposition.

• Gravity is always attractive

2. WEIGHT

The weight of a body is the total gravitational force exerted on the body by all other bodies in the universe.

The weight of a body decreases inversely with the square of its distance from the earth’s center

where m is the mass of the object, and 𝑟 = 𝑅𝐸 + ℎ, and ℎ is the height from the surface of earth.

On the surface of earth, 𝑟 = 𝑅𝐸

3. GRAVITATIONAL POTENTIAL ENERGY

The gravitational potential energy is;

This is a negative energy because it is a bound system and if we want to make the object m free from the
gravitational pull or influence of the planet Earth, the external agency has to do positive work on it. And once it is
free its potential energy must be zero. This can only happen if Ugrav is negative.

4. ESCAPE VELOCITY

If we send out an object from the surface of a planet with a certain velocity, it can be escaped from the gravitational
pull of that planet and be free. This minimum velocity is called escape velocity from the surface of a planet.

Use conservation of energy to find the escape velocity:

The escape velocity does not depend on the mass m of the projectile.

Example 1: A planet orbiting a distant star has radius 3.24×106 m. The escape speed for an object lauched from this
planet’s surface is 7.65×103 m/s. What is the acceleration due to gravity at the surface of the planet?

5. THE MOTION OF SATELLITES

Orbits: When a satellite moves in a circular orbit, the centripetal acceleration is provided by the gravitational
attraction of the earth.

By using Newton’s 2nd Law and Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation, we can calculate the following:

Example 2: For a satellite to be in a circular orbit 890 km above the surface of the earth, (a) what orbital speed must
it be given and (b) what is the period of the orbit (in hours)? RE = 6.37 × 106 m
 Gravitation- Practise Problems
Question 1: A planet orbiting a distant star has radius 3.24x106 m. The escape speed for an
object launched from this planet’s surface is 7.65x103 m/s. What is the acceleration due to
gravity at the surface of the planet?
Solution:
𝑹𝒑 = 𝟑. 𝟐𝟒 × 𝟏𝟎𝟔 𝒎

𝒗𝒆𝒔𝒄 = 𝟕. 𝟔𝟓 × 𝟏𝟎𝟑 𝒎/𝒔

𝟐𝑮𝑴𝒑
Escape velocity of an object from a planet’s surface is given by: 𝒗𝒆𝒔𝒄 = √ 𝑹𝒑

𝑮𝑴𝒑
Acceleration due to gravity at a planet’s surface is given by; 𝒈𝒑 = 𝑹𝟐𝒑

Substitute for 𝑴𝑷 from the first equation;

𝒗𝟐𝒆𝒔𝒄 (𝟕. 𝟔𝟓 × 𝟏𝟎𝟑 )𝟐
𝒈𝑷 = = = 𝟗. 𝟎𝟑 𝒎/𝒔𝟐
𝟐𝑹𝒑 𝟐 × 𝟑. 𝟐𝟒 × 𝟏𝟎𝟔

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SOLUTION:

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SOLUTION:

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SOLUTION:

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SOLUTION:

SOLUTION:

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Example 13.6

SOLUTION:

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Question 7: A satellite of mass 190 kg is placed into Earth orbit at a height of 700 km above
the surface.
a) Assuming a circular orbit, how long does the satellite take to complete one orbit?,
b) What is the satellite’s speed?.
c) Starting from the satellite on the Earth’s surface, what is the minimum energy input
necessary to place this satellite in orbit? Ignore air resistance and the effect of the planet’s
daily rotation.
SOLUTION:
Part (a)

𝐺𝑀𝐸
𝑣=√
𝑟
2𝜋𝑟
𝑇=
𝑣
𝑟 = 𝑅𝐸 + ℎ = (6370 + 700) × 103 = 7070 × 103 𝑚
2𝜋𝑟 3⁄2 2 × 3.14 × (7070 × 103 )3/2
𝑇= = = 5918.15 𝑠 = 1.64 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠
√𝐺𝑀𝐸 √6.67 × 10−11 × 5.97 × 1024
Part (b):
2𝜋𝑟 2 × 𝜋 × 7070 × 103
𝑣= = = 7507 𝑚/𝑠
𝑇 5918.15
Part (c): {initially when the satellite is on the surface of earth, if we neglect the speed attained
by rotation of earth. We can assume the satellite has zero initial kinetic energy}.
𝐾𝑖 + 𝑈𝑖 + 𝑊𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 = 𝐾𝑓 + 𝑈𝑓
Where 𝑊𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 gives the minimum work(energy) required to put this satellite on orbit.
𝑊𝑜𝑡ℎ = 𝐾𝑓 + 𝑈𝑓 − 𝐾𝑖 − 𝑈𝑖
1 𝐺𝑀𝑚 𝐺𝑀𝑚
𝑊𝑜𝑡ℎ = 𝑚𝑣 2 + (− ) − 0 − (− )
2 𝑟 𝑅𝐸
1 2
6.67 × 10−11 × 5.97 × 1024 × 190
𝑊𝑜𝑡ℎ = 190(7507) − ( )
2 (7070 × 103 )
(6.67 × 10−11 × 5.97 × 1024 × 190)
+
(6370 × 103 )
𝑊𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 = 1.70 × 109 𝐽
This is the minimum energy required to put this satellite on orbit
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