Newton's Law of Gravitation
Newton's Law of Gravitation Two Particles
Below is a simulation of Newton's Law for Universal Gravitation or the Gravitational Force in a 2D plane. In the simulation, you can input the positions of two particles that possess a mass as well as the masses of the particles whether one is heavier thatn the other or have the same mass. This is a force of attraction only which is then calculated within the simulation. You can also see the radial distance between the particles that possess a mass as well as the direction of the force vectors depending on how large the force of attraction is between the particles that possess a mass.
Newton's Law for Universal Gravitation states that every particle in the universe attracts every other particle with a force that is proportional to the product of the masses of the particles, but inversely proportional to the square distance between the particle's centers.
This force is known as the gravitational force, and is defined as Fg = G m1 m2⁄r2.
\[ F_g = \frac{G \cdot m_1 \cdot m_2}{r^2} \]
G is the gravitational constant, or Newtonian constant of gravitation which is equal to 6.67430 × 10-11 N m2⁄kg2. It is a proportionality constant that depends on the system of units used in the equation.
m1 & m2 represent the two particles that possess a mass whether they are equal to each other or one is heavier than the other that are multiplied together.
r is the radial distance between the two particles that posses a mass. It is squared because the particles if imagined to be in three dimensions would have the surface area of a sphere which increases with the square of the radius. This increasing area corresponds to the square of the increasing radial distance, which is why the square of the radius is used instead of the radius alone.
With all of these terms combined we get the formula for calculating the gravitational force.
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