Name: Weight of an Object on Moon
Uploaded: 2019-07-19
Duration: 7 min 1 s
Description: In many space videos, astronauts are seen hopping on the surface of the moon due to their reduced weights. Watch the video to learn how to find weight on the...

Question

State universal law of gravitation. Derive an expression for the gravitational force between two bodies.

Accepted Answer

According to the universal law of gravitation, any two objects in the universe are attracted towards each other by a force which is known as gravitational force.

Gravitational force ( $F$ ) is directly proportional to the product of masses of the two bodies. i.e. $F \propto M \times m$
Also, gravitational force is inversely proportional to the square of the distance( $R$ ) between the two objects. i.e. $F \propto \frac{1}{R^{2}}$
By combining both, we get $F \propto \frac{M m}{R^{2}}$
or, $F = \frac{G M m}{R^{2}}$
where $G$ is the universal gravitational constant
$M$ is the mass of the first body
$m$ is the mass of the second body.

State universal law of gravitation. Derive an expression for the gravitational force between two bodies.

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