ASTRON 1101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 32: Euclidean Space, Gravitational Lens, Teddy Bear

• School: Ohio State University
• Department: Astronomy
• Course: ASTRON 1101
• Professor: Barbara Ryden

Document Summary

Space is static (not expanding or contracting) and euclidean. Euclidean means that all euclid"s laws of geometry hold true. (euclidean space is sometimes called flat space; in this context, flat doesn"t mean 2-dimensional. Objects have a natural tendency to move in straight lines at constant speeds . However, we see planets moving on curved orbits at varying speed. There is a force acting on the planets the force called gravity . The gravitational force depends on a property of the planet that we may call the. Newton"s second law of motion gives the acceleration in response to any force (not just gravity) He acceleration depends on a property that we may call the inertial mass , or mi. A gravitational force is applied to an object with gravitational mass mg and inertial mass mi. Two rocks with different values of mg/mi would accelerate at different rates.