Gravitational fields

2^nd year of post-compulsory secondary education


	Gravitational fields

José Luis San Emeterio

GRAVF

Objectives

To understand the process that led to the establishment of the law of universal gravitation and its relation with Kepler's empirical laws.

To explain the importance of the law of gravitation in the study of the movement of astronomical objects in the solar system, artificial satellites and tides.

To learn the concepts of field intensity and gravitational potential energy.

To understand how phenomena like Earth's rotation may change our perception of gravity.

To be able, in simple cases, to carry out predictions about the values of field intensity, orbital data for satellites and energy in gravitational phenomena.


	Historical background

	Freely falling bodies
	Two theories of the universe
	Kepler's laws
	Conclusions


	The force of gravity

	Newton's law
	The superposition of forces
	Angular momentum and central force
	Conclusions


	Field intensity

	The concept of field intensity
	Variations according to position
	Conclusions


	Energy in the gravitational field

	Gravitational potential energy
	Equipotential surfaces and lines of force
	Conclusions


	Some consequences of the theory

	Explanation of the tides
	The movement of artificial satellites
	Coherence of galaxies
	Conclusions


	Evaluation