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Gravitational energy is the potential energy a massive object has due to its position in a gravitational field. Learn how to calculate it for two interacting point masses, and how it changes in Newtonian mechanics and general relativity.
Energy is a scalar quantity and hence Equation \ref{13.5} is a scalar equation—the direction of the velocity plays no role in conservation of energy. It is possible to have a gravitationally bound system where the masses do not “fall together,” but maintain an orbital motion about each other.
22 gru 2020 · Gravitational potential energy (GPE) is an important physical concept that describes the energy something possesses due to its position in a gravitational field. The GPE formula GPE = mgh shows that it depends on the mass of the object, the acceleration due to gravity and the height of the object.
The change in gravitational potential energy \(\Delta PE_g\), is \(\Delta PE_g = mgh\), with \(h\) being the increase in height and \(g\) the acceleration due to gravity. The gravitational potential energy of an object near Earth’s surface is due to its position in the mass-Earth system.
Starting from the escape velocity formula, derive an equation for the radius of the event horizon in terms of m (the mass of the black hole), G (the gravitational constant), and c (the speed of light).
In order to determine the gravitational potential energy function for the mass \(m\) in the presence of a mass \(M\), we calculate the work done by the force of gravity on the mass \(m\) over a path where the integral for work will be “easy” to evaluate, namely a straight line.
In classical mechanics, the gravitational potential is a scalar potential associating with each point in space the work (energy transferred) per unit mass that would be needed to move an object to that point from a fixed reference point in the conservative gravitational field.