Universal Gra

vitation, Satel
lites and Rela
tivity

What is a Universal Gravitati

on?
It is the force of attraction between any two any tw
o particle or any bodies in the universe.

Gravity
Gravity gives weight to object with mass.
When we drop something, gravity responds to make the ob
ject drop to the ground.(freefall)
Gravity is responsible for keeping the planets in their orbits,
the formation of tides, etc.

Background

Sir Isaac Newton

Apple

 Sir Isaac Newton realized that there mustve been a

mass that made the apple drop down to the groun
d. He applied his second law of motion and called t
his gravity.
F = ma

Albert Einstein

Newtons Law of Universal gravitati

on
States that two objects attract every each
other with a force that is directly proportio
nal to the product of their masses and inve
rsely to the square of the distance betwee
n the two objects

Formula

Gravitational Field

Earth can be thought of as being surrounded by a gravitatio

nal field that interacts with objects and causes them to exper
ience gravitational forces.
We can regard the moon as in contact with the gravitational
field of Earth.
A gravitational field occupies the space surrounding a mas
sive body. A gravitational field is an example of a force fiel
d, for any mass in the field space experiences a force. A m
ore familiar force field is the magnetic field of a magnet.
Iron filings sprinkled over a sheet of paper on top of a mag
net reveal the shape of the magnets magnetic field.

What is Equivalence Principl

e?
Demonstrated by Galileo, Einstein, and Lorand Eotvos.
This basically means that objects, with different masses, w
hen drop from the same height (in absence of air resistan
ce), will reach the ground at the same time.
Because the Earth produce the same acceleration in every
object.

*An elephant and an ant

would land at the same time if
dropped from the same
height!!!

WEIGHT AND WEIGHTLESS

NESS

Ocean tides

Ocean Tides Newton showed that the ocean tides are cau
sed by differences in the gravitational pull of the moon on
opposite sides of Earth.
The moons attraction is stronger on Earths oceans closer
to the moon, and weaker on the oceans farther from the
moon.
This is simply because the gravitational force is weaker wit
h increased distance.
The ocean tides are caused by differences in the gravitatio
nal pull of the moon on opposite sides of Earth.

Factors Affecting Ocean Tides

The sun also contributes to ocean tides, about half as much as the moon. Its pull on E
arth is 180 times greater than the moons pull on Earth, so why solar tides 180 arent t
imes greater than lunar tides? The difference in gravitational pulls by the sun on opp
osite sides of Earth is very small.
A spring tide is a high or low tide that occurs when the sun, Earth, and moon are all li
ned up. The tides due to the sun and the moon coincide, making the high tides high
er than average and the low tides lower than average.
Spring tides occur at the times of a new or full moon.
A neap tide occurs when the moon is halfway between a new moon and a full moon,
in either direction. The pulls of the moon and sun are perpendicular to each other.
The solar and lunar tides do not overlap, so the high tides are not as high and low tid
es are not as low.
When the attractions of the sun and the moon are at right angles to each other (at th
e time of a half-moon), neap tides occur.

Black Holes

When a massive star collapses into a black hole, there is no

change in the gravitational field at any point beyond the ori
ginal radius of the star.
Two main processes go on continuously in stars like our sun.
Gravitation tends to crush all solar material toward the center.
Thermonuclear fusion, consisting of reactions similar to those in
a hydrogen bomb, tends to blow solar material outward. When
the processes of gravitation and thermonuclear fusion balance e
ach other, the result is the sun of a given size.
The size of the sun is the result of a tug of war between two o
pposing processes: nuclear fusion and gravitational contraction.

Formation of Black Holes

If the fusion rate increases, the sun will get hotter a

nd bigger. If the fusion rate decreases, the sun will
get cooler and smaller. When the sun runs out of f
usion fuel (hydrogen), gravitation will dominate and
the sun will start to collapse.

Satellites

An Earth satellite is a projectile moving fast enough

to fall continually around Earth rather than into it.

Circular Orbits

Circular Orbits A satellite in circular orbit around Ear

th is always moving perpendicular to gravity and par
allel to Earths surface at constant speed.
In circular orbit, the speed of a satellite is not chang
ed by gravity.

Elliptical orbits

A satellite in orbit around Earth traces an oval-shape

d path called an ellipse.
An ellipse is the closed path taken by a point that m
oves in such a way that the sum of its distances fro
m two fixed points is constant. The two fixed point
s in an ellipse are called foci. For a satellite orbiting
a planet, the center of the planet is at one focus an
d the other focus could be inside or outside the plan
et.

Energy Conservation and Sat

ellite Motion

Keplers first law

Keplers first law states that the path of each planet
around the sun is an ellipse with the sun at one focu
s.

What is an ellipse? And what is a focus?

Keplers second law

Keplers second law states that each planet moves s
o that an imaginary line drawn from the sun to any
planet sweeps out equal areas of space in equal tim
e intervals.

Keplers third law

Keplers third law states that the square of the orbit
al period of a planet is directly proportional to the c
ube of the average distance of the planet from the s
un.

Gravitation PE and Escape V

elocity
If we give a payload any equal or more energy than 62 MJ/
kg or any greater speed than 11.2km/s, then, neglecting ai
r resistance, the payload will escape and never return

Gravitation PE and Escape V

elocity
Escape Velocity- is the minimum speed necessary for an obj
ect to permanently escape from a gravitational field

Formulas
Speed of a satellite in orbit around the Earth
Escape Speed
Gravitational Potential energy
PE

The Solar System

Pioneer 10

Relativity Space-Time?
Newton was not sure whether time and space existed within the
universe or whether universe existed within space and time.
Einstein suggested that space and time existed only within the un
iverse
Space and time are two parts of the whole called space-time

Special Theory of Relativity

You travel through a combination of space and time

.

First postulate of Special rela

tivity
The first postulate of special relativity states that all
the laws of nature are the same in all inertia or unif
ormly moving frames of reference.

Second postulate of special r

elativity
The second postulate of special relativity states that the speed of
light in empty space will always have the same value regardless o
f the motion of the source or the motion of the observer; speed
of light in a vacuum has the same value in all inertial systems.

 The ratio of space to time for light is the same for all
who measure it.

Twin Paradox & Trolley Car Ri

de
Suppose one of a pair of identical twins goes on a spaceship ride
close to the speed of light. When he returns to Earth, after 20 yea
rs have passed, he has only aged two years due to time dilation.
But wait! From her frame, the Earth was moving with respect to hi
m, and his Earth twin should be the younger one.
Whats wrong here?
The answer is that the traveling twin, in order to return to Earth, has
to turn around and come back. Therefore, his frame is not inertial, a
nd he is indeed younger than his twin when he comes home.
At 99.5% the speed of light, 10 Earth years would pass in one sp
aceship year. At this speed, the traveling twin would age a single
year while the stay-at-home twin ages 10 years.

Length Contraction

Momentum, Mass & Energy

As an object approaches the speed of light, its momentu

m increases dramatically. Momentum equals mass times
velocity: p = mv (we use p for momentum) To Newton,
infinite momentum would mean infinite speed. Einstein
showed that a new definition of momentum is required:

where v is the speed of an object and c is the speed of lig

ht.

Mass & Energy

General Relativity Backgroun

d
Every motion is moving in a uniform frames
of reference
Einstein believed that the laws of nature sh
ould be expressed in the same form
Then he came up with general theory of rel
ativity

General Relativity

Gravity causes space to become curved and time to

slow down