7.1.

2 Gravitational Field Strength

Gravitational Force
• There is a universal force of attraction between all matter with mass
o This force is known as the ‘force due to gravity’ or the weight
• The Earth’s gravitational field is responsible for the weight of all objects on Earth
• A gravitational field is defined as:

A region of space where a mass experiences a force due to the gravitational attraction of another mass

• The direction of the gravitational field is always towards the centre of the mass
o Gravitational forces cannot be repulsive
• Gravity has an infinite range, meaning it affects all objects in the universe
o There is a greater gravitational force around objects with a large mass (such as planets)
o There is a smaller gravitational force around objects with a small mass (almost negligible for
atoms)

The Earth’s gravitational field produces an attractive force

Gravitational Field Strength

• The strength of this gravitational field g at a point is the force F per unit mass m of an object at that
point:

• Where:
o g = gravitational field strength (N kg-1)
o F = force due to gravity, or weight (N)
o m = mass (kg)

• This equation shows that:

o The larger the mass of an object, the greater its pull on another object
o On planets with a large value of g, the gravitational force per unit mass is greater than on
planets with a smaller value of g
• An object’s mass remains the same at all points in space
 o However, on planets such as Jupiter, the weight of an object will be a lot greater than on a
less massive planet, such as Earth
o This means the gravitational force would be so high that humans, for example, would not be
unable to fully stand up

A person’s weight on Jupiter would be so large that a human would be unable to fully stand up

• Factors that affect the gravitational field strength at the surface of a planet are:
o The radius (or diameter) of the planet
o The mass (or density) of the plane

7.1.3 Representing Gravitational Fields

• The direction of a gravitational field is represented by gravitational field lines
• The gravitational field lines around a point mass are radially inwards
• The gravitational field lines of a uniform field, where the field strength is the same at all points, is
represented by equally spaced parallel lines
o For example, the fields lines on the Earth’s surface

Gravitational field lines for a point mass and a uniform gravitational field

• Radial fields are considered non-uniform fields

 oThe gravitational field strength g is different depending on how far you are from the
centre
• Parallel field lines on the Earth’s surface are considered a uniform field
o The gravitational field strength g is the same throughout

Point Mass Approximation

• For a point outside a uniform sphere, the mass of the sphere may be considered to be a point
mass at its centre
o A uniform sphere is one where its mass is distributed evenly
• The gravitational field lines around a uniform sphere are therefore identical to those around a
point mass
• An object can be regarded as point mass when:

A body covers a very large distance as compared to its size, so, to study its motion, its size or
dimensions can be neglected

• An example of this is field lines around planets

Gravitational field lines around a uniform sphere are identical to those on a point mass

• Radial fields are considered non-uniform fields

o So, the gravitational field strength g is different depending on how far an object is from
the centre of mass of the sphere

7.1.4 Newton's Law of Gravitation

Newton's Law of Gravitation
• The gravitational force between two bodies outside a uniform field, e.g. between the Earth and the
Sun, is defined by Newton’s Law of Gravitation
o Recall that the mass of a uniform sphere can be considered to be a point mass at its centre
• Newton’s Law of Gravitation states that:

The gravitational force between two point masses is proportional to the product of the masses and
inversely proportional to the square their separation

• In equation form, this can be written as:

The gravitational force between two masses outside a uniform field is defined by Newton’s Law of
Gravitation

• Where:
o FG = gravitational force between two masses (N)
o G = Newton’s gravitational constant
o m1 and m2 = two points masses (kg)
o r = distance between the centre of the two masses (m)

• Although planets are not point masses, their separation is much larger than their radius
o Therefore, Newton’s law of gravitation applies to planets orbiting the Sun
• The 1/r2 relation is called the ‘inverse square law’
• This means that when a mass is twice as far away from another, its force due to gravity reduces by
(½)2 = ¼

WORKED EXAMPLE

• A satellite with mass 6500 kg is orbiting the Earth at 2000 km above the Earth’s surface. The
gravitational force between them is 37 kN.
• Calculate the mass of the Earth.
• Radius of the Earth = 6400 km.

•
 7.1.5 Gravitational Field Strength in a Radial Field
• The gravitational field strength, g at a point describes how strong or weak a gravitational field
is at that point
• g in a radial field (such as a planet) is calculated using the equation:

• Where:
o g = gravitational field strength (N kg-1)
o G = Newton’s Gravitational Constant
o M = mass of the body producing the gravitational field (kg)
o r = distance from the mass where you are calculating the field strength (m)

• Gravitational field strength, g, is a vector quantity

• The direction of g is always towards the centre of the body creating the gravitational field
o This is the same direction as the gravitational field lines
• On the Earth’s surface, g has a constant value of 9.81 N kg-1
• However, outside the Earth’s surface, g is not constant
o g decreases as r increases by a factor of 1/r2
o This is an inverse square law relationship with distance

• When g is plotted against the distance from the centre of a planet, r has two parts:
o When r < R, the radius of the planet, g is directly proportional to r
o When r > R, g is inversely proportional to r2 (this is an ‘L’ shaped curve and shows
that gdecreases rapidly with increasing distance r)

 Graph showing how gravitational field strength varies at greater distance from the Earth’s surface

• Sometimes, g is referred to as the ‘acceleration due to gravity’ with units of m s-2

o Any object that falls freely in a uniform gravitational field on Earth has an acceleration of
9.81 m s-2

WORKED EXAMPLE

The mean density of the Moon is 3/5 times the mean density of the Earth.

The gravitational field strength on the Moon is 1/6 of the value on Earth.

Determine the ratio of the Moon’s radius rM and the Earth’s radius rE.
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