All Questions
Tagged with newtonian-gravity potential
123
questions
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How Can there be a Gravitational Potential when there is NO Gravitational Field? [closed]
How does it make any logic that there exist a potential when there is no net field
for example when we have a Hollow Sphere with mass we can find out the the gravitational *potential inside the sphere ...
0
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0
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42
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Is there a deeper relationship between symmetry and gravitational potential comparing Newton's and Einstein's gravity?
In this question, see Why is general relativity in (2+1) dimensions different from cylindrical systems in (3+1) dimensional GR?, it is mentioned
"The gravitational potential Φ of an infinite rod ...
0
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2
answers
49
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Gravitational potential due to arbitrary shape
Outside the uniform sphere, the potential is expressed as if all the masses are concentrated in the center of the sphere.
Is it also true for arbitrary shape?
That is, outside any body, is potential ...
1
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0
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47
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Converting a gravitation potential from spherical to Cartesian and adding arbitrary tilt
I am working on utilising different potentials in my N-body code to do toy simulations (massless particles in a potential. However, I ran into issues converting a certain potential from a paper into ...
1
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2
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101
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Defintion of gravitational potential
I am not much clear regarding the defintion of "gravitational potential":
Is the work done for bringing the unit mass from infinity to that point by, gravitaional force or external force? (...
0
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2
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180
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How much kinetic energy would a star in a galaxy have if it fell to the center?
I want to calculate the speed, or equivalently, the kinetic energy of a star, if it had no rotational speed and fell from a given radius to the center of the galaxy.
I assume Newton's shell theorem ...
1
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2
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341
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Gravitational potential energy of a galaxy
How can the total gravitational potential energy of a galaxy be calculated?
Lets assume for simplicity that the entire galaxy follows an exponential mass density function for an infinitely small ...
4
votes
4
answers
524
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Interpretation of gravitational waves
A wave has peaks and valleys. I can think of a sine wave as a wave with peaks and valleys.
Now, if gravity is a wave, can we say that gravity would have peaks and valleys, with the valley becoming ...
1
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0
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27
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Gravitational binding energy of a part of system
I want to calculate the gravitational binding energy of a small central cube (length $l$), which is part of a much larger cube (length L). I have the mass and gravitational potential distribution ...
0
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1
answer
47
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What happens if we define the gravitational potential zero point at a finite distance? [duplicate]
Two questions.
Can we, and if so how do we define the gravitational potential of a mass (say the sun) to be zero at a finite distance (say 1 light year)?
How does this change the gravitational force ...
1
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1
answer
39
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What energy is transferred into potential? [closed]
This question could be really out of the blue and might receive lots of downvotes, but bugging me quite a time and would appreciate your thoughts easily explained.
We know that when we do work against ...
1
vote
1
answer
106
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Boundary condition of gravitational potential
I solve a system of coupled equations numerically. One of the most important, is equation of the gravitational potential,
$$\nabla^2 \phi = 4\pi G m \rho(r)$$
But I have physical problem with boundary ...
0
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2
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131
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Gravitational potential and Bessel functions
In electromagnetism, we can solve Laplace and Poisson equation using Bessel functions. But my question is why don't we use Bessel functions to solve these equations for gravitational potential?
0
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1
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33
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Physical feasibility of zero gravitational potential and non-zero gravitational field
Using $dV/dr = -E$ it is mathematically possible to prove that there exists a point in space where gravitational potential is zero but field is not.
But what is the physical feasibility of the above ...
12
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1
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849
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Gravity vs. EM: action at a distance
Countless texts point to Newton's theory $\nabla^2\phi = 4\pi G\rho$, and remark that the problem here is that a distribution of mass determines the potential instantaneously everywhere, which is ...