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The first application of any new theory of physics is usually to explain previously unexplained experimental results. Newton did this be deriving Kepler's Laws of planetary motion. He immediately moved on to the next step, still followed today, predict measurements which have not or can not be made directly, but which can be verified by consistency checks with things that can be or have been measured. For Newton, one of the first checks along these lines was to determine the ratio of Jupiter's mass to the earth's mass. Even without the value of the gravitational constant, G, he could do this by application of his version of Kepler's Third Law.
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submitted by mirtunjay_svm2007 (79 m) on 3 Mar 2008 10:19:33 IST (0 comments 61 views)
The story started with an apple. Apple was the forbidden fruit which tempted eve. Apple was the fruit which propelled Newton to discover the law of gravitation. At the age of 44, Newton found out the Law of Universal Gravitation, which states that any two objects attract each other with a force given by F = G (M1 * M2) R2 Newton estimated this constant of proportionality, called universal gravitational constant G, from the gravitational acceleration of the falling apple and an appro
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submitted by ramyani (2489 m) on 23 Sep 2007 16:12:59 IST (3 comments 181 views)
Newton's law of gravitation can be used to give a formula for the planets The force of gravitational attraction between the Sun and a planet is equal to the centripetal force required to keep the planet in its orbit: The period of the planets orbit can be given by: Where the distance is the circumference of a circle, (note that d is distance from Sun, and is therfore the radius, not the diameter). This gives us: Which we can re-arrange to make v the subj
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submitted by ramyani (2489 m) on 24 Sep 2007 00:56:20 IST (1 comments 125 views)
There is a popular story that Newton was sitting under an apple tree, an apple fell on his head, and he suddenly thought of the Universal Law of Gravitation. As in all such legends, this is almost certainly not true in its details, but the story contains elements of what actually happened. What Really Happened with the Apple?Probably the more correct version of the story is that Newton, upon observing an apple fall from a tree, began to think along the following lines: The apple is accelerated, since its velocity changes from zero as it is hanging on the tree and moves toward the ground. Thus, by Newton's 2nd Law there must be a force that acts on the apple to cau
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submitted by jaydashora (32 m) on 1 Jul 2007 14:59:16 IST (3 comments 116 views)
