|
Acceleration of Gravity or Gravitational Field Strength:
The acceleration of gravity at any given location near or above a planet's surface is often referred to as the gravitational field constant of that planet. Such acceleration values are directly proportional to the planet's mass and inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the planet's center.
|
|
The acceleration of gravity (g) is the acceleration an object experiences when the only force acting upon it is gravity. According to Newton's universal gravitation law, its value can be predicted by the following equation:
g = G • Mplanet / d2
where Mplanet represents the planet's mass and d represents the distance that the object is from the planet's center.
|
|
As stated in the Know the Law section and as expressed in the Formula Frenzy section, the value of g is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between an object and the center of the planet. To say that two quantities are inversely proportional is to mean that an increase in one quantity would lead to a decrease in the other quantity.
|