Law: Universal Law of Gravitation
Statement:
The law which states that every particle of matter attracts every other particle in the universe with a force whose magnitude is directly proportional to the product of masses and inversely proportional to the square of distance between them is called Newton's Law of Gravitation.
Derivation:
Newton's Universal Law of Gravitation states that every particle of matter attracts every other particle of matter with a force which is:
- Directly proportional to the product of their masses: F ∝ m1 ⋅ m2
- Inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them: F ∝ \[\frac {1}{r^2}\]
Combining both, the gravitational force is expressed as:
F = G\[\frac{m_1m_2}{r^2}\]
where G is the Universal Gravitational Constant, measured by Henry Cavendish using the Cavendish balance, with the value:
G = 6.67 × 10−11Nm2/kg2