Chapter 1 - Gravitation

1. Study the entries in the following table and rewrite them putting the connected items in a
single row.

I II III

Mass m/s2 Zero at the center

Weight kg Measure of inertia

Acceleration due to gravity Nm2/kg2 Same in the entire universe

Gravitational constant N Depends on height

Answer:

I II III

Mass kg Measure of inertia

Weight N Zero at the center

Acceleration due to gravity m/s2 Same in the entire universe

Gravitational constant Nm2/kg2 Depends on height

2. Answer the following questions.

a. What is the difference between mass and weight of an object? Will the mass and weight
of an object on the earth be the same as their values on Mars? Why?
Answer: Mass: The amount of matter present in the object is Mass, a scalar quantity with SI unit
kg. Its value is the same everywhere and does not change even when we go to another planet.
According to Newton’s first law, it is the measure of the inertia of an Object. The higher the mass,
higher is the inertia.
Weight: The weight of an object, on the other hand is the force with which the earth attracts the
object. The force (F) on an object of mass m on the surface of the earth can be written using
equation (4)
Weight (W) = F = m g …. ( g= GM/R2)
Since, Weight is a force, it is a vector quantity with the SI unit Newton and its direction is towards
the center of the earth. Given that the value of g is not the same everywhere, the weight of an
object changes from place to place, even if its mass is constant everywhere.
From this, it is seen that while the weight of an object on Earth and Mars may differ, its mass
remains constant on Mars as well on Earth.

b. What are (i) free fall, (ii) acceleration due to gravity (iii) escape velocity
(iv) centripetal force ?

(i) Free fall?

Answer: The force of gravity due to the earth acts on each and every object, hence, when we are
holding a stone in our hand, the stone experiences this force. Nevertheless, it is balanced by
another force that we apply to it in the opposite direction. The result of this is that the stone remains
at rest. However, when we release the stone in our hands, the only force that acts on it is the
gravitational force of the earth and the stone falls down by its influence. Any object that moves
under just the influence of the force of gravity is falling freely. Thus, this released stone is in a
state of free fall. The initial velocity of the object during the free fall is zero, which increases along
with the acceleration resulting from the gravity of the earth. In free fall, the frictional force due to
air opposes the motion of the object and a buoyant force is also applied to the object. Hence, free
fall is only possible in a vacuum.

(ii) Acceleration due to gravity?

Answer: The earth applies gravitational force on the objects near it. According to Newton’s
second law of motion, a force applied to a body causes its acceleration. Hence, the gravitational
force due to the earth on a body results in its acceleration. This is known as acceleration due to
gravity denoted by ‘g’. Acceleration is a vector. As the gravitational force on any object due to
the earth is directed towards the center of the earth, the direction of the acceleration due to gravity
is also directed towards the center of the earth i.e. vertically downwards.

(iii) Escape velocity?

Answer: When a ball is thrown upwards, its velocity is decreased due to the gravitation of the
earth, reaching zero after reaching a certain height. From there, the ball then starts to fall.
Maximum height of the ball is dependent upon its initial velocity.
According to Newton’s third equation of motion,

v2 = u2+2as, with v = the final velocity of the ball = 0 and a = – g

Therefore, 0 = u2 + 2 (-g) s and maximum height of the ball = s = -(u2/ 2g)
Hence, when the initial velocity u is higher, the larger is the height reached by the ball.
For this reason, the higher the initial velocity, the ball will oppose the gravity of the earth more
and larger will be the height to which it can reach. The value of g keeps decreasing as we go higher
above the surface of the earth. Thus, the force pulling the ball downward decreases as the ball
goes up. Keep increasing the initial velocity of the ball, till it reaches larger and larger heights.
Above a particular value of initial velocity of the ball, the ball is able to overcome the downward
pull of the earth and escape the earth forever without falling back to the earth. This velocity is
called escape velocity. We can determine its value by using the law of conservation of energy.

(iv) centripetal force ?

Answer: Imagine an object moving in a circle with constant speed. Such a motion is possible only
if there is a force directed towards the center of the circle, acting on it constantly. This force is
known as the centripetal force. Suppose, m is the mass of the object with v as its speed and r as
the radius of the circle, then this force is equivalent to F = m (v2/r).

c. Write the three laws given by Kepler. How did they help Newton to arrive at the
inverse square law of gravity?
Answer: Johannes Keppler, studied the data available about planetary positions and motion and
noticed that the motion of planets follows certain laws. According to him, there are three laws
describing planetary motion known as Kepler’s laws which are given here.
Kepler’s first law states that the orbit of a planet is an ellipse with the Sun at one of the foci. Take
the image given below:

This image shows the elliptical orbit of a planet revolving around the sun with the position of the
Sun.
Kepler’s second law states The line joining the planet and the Sun sweeps equal areas in equal
intervals of time. Distances covered by the planet in equal time, are AB and CD, i.e. After equal
intervals of time, the positions of the planet starting from A and C are shown by B and D,
respectively.
Then there is Kepler’s third law that states the square of its period of revolution around the Sun
is directly proportional to the cube of the mean distance of a planet from the Sun.
Hence,
if r is the average distance of the planet from the Sun and
T is its period of revolution then,
T2 a r3 i.e. T2/T3= constant = K.

All the above considerations including Kepler’s laws led Newton to formulate his theory of
Universal gravity. According to this theory, every object in the Universe attracts every other object
with a definite force. This force is directly proportional to the product of the masses of the two
objects and is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.

d. A stone thrown vertically upwards with initial velocity u reaches a height ‘h’ before
coming down. Show that the time taken to go up is the same as the time taken to come down.
Answer: During vertical upward motion of the stone
Given that S=h, u=u, v=0 and a= -g
And if ‘t’ is the time taken by the ball to reach the height ‘h’, then by applying a second equation
of motion, you get – 2gh = v2-u2.
Hence, u= √2gh
Applying the first equation of motion you get v = u-gt
Therefore, t = u/g= (√2h/g)
Now, for vertical downward motion of the stone
S=h, u=u and a= g
Given that “v” is the velocity of the ball with which it hits the ground and ‘t” is the time taken for
the ball to reach the ground.
Here, applying second motion of the equation gives you
2gh = v2
So, v = √2gh
Now, applying second motion of the equation
v= u + gt
Hence, t= v/g = (√2h/g)
This proves that the time taken by the stone to go up is the same as the time taken to come down.
3. Explain why the value of g is zero at the center of the earth.
Answer: At the center of the earth, the force driven by the upper half of the earth is cancelled out
due to the force of the lower half of the earth. In this manner, the force caused by any portion of
the earth will be nullified at its center by the force due to the opposite side. Thus, the gravitational
force at the center will be 0. Now, by applying Newton’s Law F= mg. Given that mass of any
object cannot be zero, then if F=0, then g has to be 0. So, the value of g is 0 at the center of the
earth.

4. Let the period of revolution of a planet at a distance R from a star be T. Prove that if it
was at a distance of 2R from the star, its period of revolution will be √8 T.
Solution: From Kepler's third law of planetary motion, we have
T 2 ∝ r 3 .....(i)
Thus, when the period of revolution of planet at a distance R from a star is T, then from i, we have
T 2 ∝ R3 .....(ii)
Now, when the distance of the planet from the star is 2R, then its period of revolution becomes
T12 ∝ (2R)3 or T12 ∝ 8R3 ….(iii)
Dividing iii by ii, we get
T2 8R3
1
= ⇒ T1 = √8T
T2 R3

5. Solve the following examples.

a. An object takes 5 s to reach the ground from a height of 5 m on a planet. What is

the value of g on the planet?

Solution:
a. Here, u = 0
S=5m
t=5s
From second equation of motion, we have

Hence, the value of g on the planet is 0.4 m/s2.

b.The radius of planet A is half the radius of planet B. If the mass of A is M A, what
must be the mass of B so that the value of g on B is half that of its value on A?

Solution:
The acceleration due to gravity of a planet is given as

Thus, the mass of planet B should be twice that of planet A.

c. The mass and weight of an object on earth are 5 kg and 49 N respectively. What will
be their values on the moon? Assume that the acceleration due to gravity on the moon
is 1/6th of that on the earth.

Solution:
Mass of the object on Earth, m = 5 kg
Weight of the object on Earth, WE = 49 N
Weight of the object on Moon,

Mass of the object on Moon = 5 kg since mass is in dependent of the place of observation.
d. An object thrown vertically upwards reaches a height of 500 m. What was its initial
velocity? How long will the object take to come back to the earth? Assume g = 10 m/s2

Solution:
For vertical upward motion of the object,
S = 500 m
g = -10 m/s2
v=0
Let u be the initial velocity of the object. From third equation of motion, we have
v2 -u2 = 2aS ⇒ 0-u2 = -2×10×500 ⇒ u = 100 m/s
Now, let t1 be time taken by the object to reach at 500 m height. Thus,
v =u+at⇒0=100-10×t1t1 =10 s

For vertical downward motion of the object,

S = 500 m
g = 10 m/s2
u=0
Let t2 be the time taken by the object to come back to the Earth from height of 500m.
From second equation of motion, we have

Thus, the total time taken by the object to reach back to Earth = t1 + t2 = 20 s

e. A ball falls off a table and reaches the ground in 1 s. Assuming g = 10 m/s 2, calculate
its speed on reaching the ground and the height of the table.

Solution:
Here, t =1 s
g = 10 m/s2
u=0
Let v be the velocity of the ball on reaching the ground.
Thus, from first equation of motion, we have
v = u + gt
⇒v = 10×1 = 10 m/s
Hence, the speed of the object on reaching the ground is 10 m/s.
Let “h” be the height of the table. Thus, from second equation of motion, we have

Hence, the height of the table is 5 m.

f. The masses of the earth and moon are 6 × 10 24 kg and 7.4 × 1022 kg, respectively. The
distance between them is 3.8 × 10 5 km. Calculate the gravitational force of attraction
between the two? Use G = 6.7 × 10 -11 N m2 kg-2

Solution:
The gravitational force between the Moon and the Earth can be found out using the formula,

where, Me and Mm are the masses of the Earth and the Moon, respectively. Using all the
given values, we have

g. The mass of the earth is 6 × 1024 kg. The distance between the earth and the sun is
1.5 × 1011 m. If the gravitational force between the two is 3.5 × 10 22 N, what us the mass
of the sun? Use G = 6.7 × 10 -11 N m2 kg-2

Solution:
The gravitational force between the Sun and the Earth can be found out using the formula,

where, Me and Ms are the masses of the Earth and the Sun, respectively. Using all the given
values, we have