7: Gravitation
- Page ID
- 18421
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- 7.1: Universal Gravitation
- We now dig a little deeper into a fundamental force for which we have up to now only used a simplified model for motion near the surface of the earth.
- 7.2: Kepler's Laws
- The greatest achievement of Newton's law of universal gravitation is that it predicts the motions of celestial bodies. Kepler developed a set of "laws" that do the same thing, decades before Newton.
- 7.3: Energy in Gravitational Systems
- We have so far focused on the force of gravity and the conservation of angular momentum for orbiting bodies. We now turn our attention to energy.
Thumbnail: A simple swinging pendulum. Image used with permission (Public domain; Lucas V. Barbosa (Kieff)).