Acceleration due to gravity: Difference between revisions

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imported>Roger Moore
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imported>Roger Moore
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Under Newtonian gravity, the gravitational field strength, or gravitational acceleration, due to a point mass ''M'' is given by <math>\vec g = -G \frac{M}{r^2} \frac{\vec{r}}{r}</math>.  
Under Newtonian gravity, the gravitational field strength, or gravitational acceleration, due to a point mass ''M'' is given by <math>\vec g = -G \frac{M}{r^2} \frac{\vec{r}}{r}</math>.  
The magnitude of ''g'' is <math>g = G \frac{M}{r^2}</math>.
The magnitude of <math>\vec{g}</math> is <math>g = G \frac{M}{r^2}</math>.


Here ''G'' is the gravitational constant, ''G'' = 6.67428&times;10<sup>-11</sup> Nm<sup>2</sup>/kg<sup>2</sup>, <math>\vec r</math> is the position vector in the field, relative to the point mass ''M'', and has a magnitude ''r''.
Here ''G'' is the gravitational constant, ''G'' = 6.67428&times;10<sup>-11</sup> Nm<sup>2</sup>/kg<sup>2</sup>, <math>\vec r</math> is the position vector in the field, relative to the point mass ''M'', and has a magnitude ''r''.

Revision as of 17:18, 24 February 2008

Under Newtonian gravity, the gravitational field strength, or gravitational acceleration, due to a point mass M is given by . The magnitude of is .

Here G is the gravitational constant, G = 6.67428×10-11 Nm2/kg2, is the position vector in the field, relative to the point mass M, and has a magnitude r.