GE CLST 70A Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Luminiferous Aether, Inverse-Square Law
23 Jan 2017
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All objects fall at the same rate regardless of mass (except due to air resistance) Newton understood that objects only accelerate if there is a force acting on them. Falling objects accelerate or gain speed steadily: f=ma. All forces must have an equal and opposite force. To accelerate a more massive object took a greater force. Hypothesized that the force existed between any two massive objects, so it must be proportional to both of them. Force varies with separation (the further away, the weaker the gravity) Every atom in your body pulls on every other atom in the universe. The more atoms you have, the more you pull and the more you are pulled (gravity!) Gravity radiates from masses, massive objects are the source of gravity. Inverse square: newton knew this applies to light and though maybe it applied to gravity too: flux alpha 1/r^2.
