Gravity is the force of attraction between masses, with larger masses having a greater effect. It accelerates objects towards it, gives weight to everything, and keeps objects in their orbits. The closer objects are, the stronger the gravitational field, which decreases rapidly with distance. The force of gravity follows an inverse quadratic relationship.
Gravity is the force of attraction between all masses. Although gravity is said to be exerted by anything that has mass, only those objects with very large masses actually affect anything near them. A gravitational field is the area around the body that exerts gravitational attraction. It can be defined as the gravitational force felt by the mass of a unit placed at a point in space.
Gravity has three very important effects. First, it accelerates all things towards it. On Earth, the acceleration due to gravity is 9.8 meters per second squared. This means that whatever is falling towards the Earth will do so with the same acceleration, unless air resistance is accounted for.
Secondly, gravity gives weight to everything. Weight is the force of gravity that pushes something towards the Earth. Mass and weight are not the same thing and mass is used to determine the weight of something. The mass of an object is always the same, but its weight can change according to the strength of the gravitational field. For example, an object’s mass would be the same on the Moon as it was on Earth, but its weight would be different due to different gravitational forces.
Finally, gravity keeps all objects in the solar system in their orbits. An orbit is caused by the balance between the forward motion of the object and the force of gravity pulling it inward. For example, the Earth’s orbit around the Sun is due to the forward motion of the Earth and the gravitational pull of the Sun on it. The same happens with the moon around the Earth.
The closer one object is to another, the stronger the gravitational field. In the Solar System, the planets closest to the Sun have a much stronger force of attraction acting on them. To counter this pull, they have to move around the Sun much faster. A gravitational field decreases very rapidly with distance.
The size of the force of gravity follows an inverse quadratic relationship. If you measured an object’s gravity and then moved it twice as far away from the large object causing the gravitational field, the force of gravity would be reduced by a factor of four. If it were moved three times farther, the gravitational pull would be reduced by a factor of nine, or the square of three. The opposite could be said if the object were also approached, except that the gravity would have increased rather than decreased.
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