Gravitation is the force of attraction between any two bodies. All objects in the universe attract each other due to gravity, though the force is often too weak to observe from large distances. Sir Isaac Newton first observed and formulated the law of universal gravitation in 1687, stating that any two bodies attract each other with a force proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. Gravity causes objects on Earth like balls thrown upwards to fall back down, and also causes attraction between celestial bodies like planets and the sun.
2. INTRODUCTION
What Is Gravity?
• Gravitation or just gravity is the force
of attraction between any two
bodies.
• All the objects in the universe attract
each other with a certain amount of
force, but in most of the cases, the
force is too weak to be observed due
to the very large distance of
separation.
• Gravity’s range is infinite, but the
effect becomes weaker as objects
move away.
3. Historical background
• This force of attraction was first observed
by Sir Isaac Newton and was presented
as Newton’s law of gravitation in the year
1680. However, gravitation can generally
exist in two main instances.
• 1. Gravitation may be the attraction of
objects by the earth
• Example:
• If a body (ball) is thrown upwards, it reach
es a certain height and falls
downwards because of the gravity of the e
arth.
4. • 2. Gravitation may be the attraction of
objects in outer space.
• Example:
• Force of attraction between the other
planets and the sun.
