List of ContentsIf friction is neglected, all movements of falling or of thrown objects near the surface of the earth are influenced by a single constant force, called gravitational force or gravity. The magnitude and direction of this force is described by the universal law of gravitation, which states that all material objects attract each other mutually.
This attracting force F between two material objects 1 and 2 is proportional to a specific property of each of these two objects, which is known as "heavy" mass m(h). The force is also inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the two objects.
In quantitative form this law can be expressed as:
(gamma) is a universal constant of nature.Each of the three simulations w01, w02 and w03 shows two particles, attracting each other at a distance increased successively by a factor of 2.
The distance between the particles can be derived from the x-coordinates. The magnitude of the acting force is indicated by the length of the arrow and is numerically shown in the inspector window. It is therefore easy to verify that the result shown by the simulation is in agreement with the law of gravitation. If for instance the distance is doubled, the force is decreased by a factor of 4.
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