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Questions tagged [newtonian-gravity]

This tag is for questions regarding the Newtonian model of gravity in which the force between two objects is given by $~GMm/r^2~.$ It is a natural phenomenon by which all things with mass or energy – including planets, stars, galaxies, and even light – attract one another. On Earth, gravity gives weight to physical objects, and the Moon's gravity causes the ocean tides.

0 votes
3 answers
262 views

Why should Apparent weight of the object floating in a fluid is 0?

The buoyant force act on the object and weight of the body act on water, so do they both cancel out? Now one more thing weight experienced by a body is equal to reaction force acting on a body so here ...
2 votes
1 answer
618 views

Generalization of Feynman's derivation of the formula for gravitational potential energy in FLP volume I

In the Feynman Lectures on Physics, Feynman derives the formula for gravitational potential energy by applying a line of reasoning he borrowed from Carnot on reversible weight lifting machines (FLP I, ...
2 votes
2 answers
2k views

Work done by conservative and non-conservative forces

Work done by conservative forces changes one form of mechanical energy into another. Is it correct to assume that work done by non-conservative forces changes one form of energy to another, for e.g., ...
6 votes
6 answers
3k views

Why is pressure in the outermost layer of a star lower than at its center?

I have done the math and I have obtained the hydrostatic pressure in a star is lower at the outermost layer of a star than in its center, where the pressure is actually maximum. Although the equations ...
1 vote
3 answers
75 views

How much time does it take for an object to fall from space? [closed]

Let's say there's an object of mass $m$ in space, $h$ meters away from the surface of the Earth. $h$ is large enough that $g$ cannot be assumed to be constant. The acceleration varies according to ...
2 votes
2 answers
237 views

Intuition behind gravitational potential

Gravitational potential at a point is equal to work done in bringing a unit mass from infinity to a particular point That was the text book definition $$V_{p} = -\frac{GM}{r}$$ If we calculate $V_p$ ...
2 votes
1 answer
75 views

Gravitational collapse - proof that energy dissipation is required?

As an undergraduate, I took a short course on astrophysics, where I encountered the Jeans mass. This is the critical mass for a spherical cloud of interstellar gas above which the cloud is predicted ...
-1 votes
1 answer
65 views

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 votes
2 answers
70 views

Do objects really "fall" at the same rate? [duplicate]

I understand that a hammer and a feather were dropped on the moon and they both landed at the same time. I understand that for all practical intents and purposes all objects do fall at the same rate. ...
4 votes
4 answers
343 views

What is the relationship between gravitation, centripetal and centrifugal force on the Earth?

I'm trying to analyze a situation wherein a ship is moving across the surface of the earth. I am trying to analyze this situation in a reference frame that is rotating with the earth (NED frame). I am ...
1 vote
4 answers
75 views

Why is work done by force $+mgh$ in the situation of throwing something up?

If there is a particle at point A(at rest) and a force moves it to point B(Above point A vertically)(final velocity = 0 at this point), the work done by gravity is $-mgh$. This I understand as the ...
0 votes
3 answers
579 views

Two particles rotating about their center of mass

Two bodies each of mass $m$ are rotating about their center of mass where the radius is $r$. Here centripetal force of each body is $\frac{mv^2}{r}$ where $v$ is the linear speed. Now, gravitational ...
1 vote
0 answers
48 views

Why does an accelerometer read geavity when at rest? [duplicate]

This may sound like a stupid question but why does an accelerometer read 9.8 (gravity) on the vertical axis when I set it down on a table? I have just finished AP Physics Mechanics and was under the ...
-1 votes
3 answers
426 views

How does gravitational potential energy work in a very large distance?

Consider a thought experiment (that I made when I was in high school) involving a universe with only two objects: a massive planet and a small asteroid. Initially, they are millions of light-years ...
0 votes
1 answer
362 views

Work done to raise an object in two sample cases

I know that gravity does a work of an amount equal to $MGH$ because a more formal definition of work $W$ done by a net force $F$ is $$\int_a^bF(x)dx$$ where $F(x)$ is the net force acting on a ...

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