Chapter 17: Gravitation

Develop full gravitation fluency from Newton's inverse-square force law and field mapping to Kepler-style orbit reasoning, potential-energy methods, escape-speed analysis, and orbital decay under drag.

1 simulation entries

Simulation: Gravitational Field Mapper

Place one or two masses, move a probe point, and inspect field vectors, potential, and local escape speed from the same geometry.

Appears in: 17.1 Newton's Law of Gravitation and Gravitational Field Strength, 17.2 Kepler's Laws and Orbital Motion from Newtonian Mechanics

Gravitation + Orbit Lab

Primary mass: 1.00 Earth massesSecondary mass: 0.012 Earth massesMass separation: 384.0 x 10^3 kmProbe x-position: 120.0 x 10^3 kmProbe y-position: 30.0 x 10^3 km

|g| at probe

3.37e-3 N/kg

Field direction

-168.0 degrees

Potential at probe

-1.33e+6 J/kg

Escape speed at probe

1.634 km/s

Vector field map (arrows point in the direction of acceleration of a 1 kg test mass)