1.

Gravitation
1. Study the entries in the following table and rewrite them putting the connected items
in a single row.

Answer:

Quantity Unit Description

Mass kg Measure of inertia

Weight N (Newton) Depends on height and gravity

Acceleration due to gravity (g) m/s² Zero at the center of Earth

Gravitational constant (G) Nm²/kg² Same throughout the universe

2. Answer the following questions.

a. What is the difference between mass and weight of an object. Will the mass and weight of
an object on the earth be same as their values on Mars? Why?
Ans. The mass of an object is the amount of matter present in it. It is same everywhere in
the Universe and is never zero. It is a scalar quantity and its SI unit is kg. The weight of an
object is the force with which the earth (or any other planet/ moon/star) attracts it. It is
directed towards the centre of the earth. The weight of an object is different at different
places on the earth. It is zero at the earth’s centre. It is a vector quantity and its SI unit is the
newton (N). The magnitude of weight = mg.
The mass of an object will be the same on the earth and Mars, but the weight will not be the
same because the value of g on Mars is different from that on the earth.

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b What are (i) free fall, (ii) acceleration due to gravity (iii) escape velocity (iv) centripetal force ?
Ans. (i) Free fall: Whenever an object moves under the influence of the force of gravity alone,
it is said to be falling freely.
(ii) Acceleration due to gravity: The acceleration produced in a body due to the gravitational
force of the earth is called the acceleration due to gravity.
(iii) Escape velocity: When a body is thrown vertically upward from the surface of the earth,
the minimum initial velocity of the body for which the body is able to overcome the
downward pull by the earth and can escape the earth forever is called the escape velocity.
(iv) Centripetal force: In uniform circular motion of a body, the force acting on the body is
directed towards the centre of the circle. This force is called centripetal force.
c. Write the three laws given by Kepler. How did they help Newton to arrive at the inverse
square law of gravity?
Ans. Kepler’s first law : The orbit of a planet is an ellipse with the Sun at one of the foci.

Figure 1.5 shows the elliptical orbit of a planet revolving around the Sun (S).
Kepler’s second law : The line joining the planet and the Sun sweeps equal areas in equal
intervals of time.
A → B, C → D and E → F are the displacements of the planet in equal intervals of time.
The straight lines AS, CS and ES sweep equal areas in equal intervals of time.
Area ASB = area CSD = area ESF.

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d. A stone thrown vertically upwards with initial velocity u reaches a height ‘h’ before coming
down. Show that the time taken to go up is same as the time taken to come down.
Ans.

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e. If the value of g suddenly becomes twice its value, it will become two times more difficult
to pull a heavy object along the floor. Why?
Ans. To pull an object along the floor, it is necessary to do work against the force of friction
between the object and the surface of the floor. This force of friction is proportional to the
weight, mg, of the object. If the value of g becomes twice its value, the weight of the object
and hence the force of friction will become double. Therefore, it will become two times more
difficult to pull a heavy object along the floor.
3. Explain why the value of g is zero at the centre of the earth.
Ans. The value of g changes while going deep inside the earth. It goes on decreasing as we go
from the earth’s surface towards the earth’s centre.
We shall treat the earth as a sphere of uniform density. If we consider a particle of mass m at
point P at a distance (R – d) from the earth’s centre, where R is the radius of the earth and d is
the depth below the earth’s surface, the gravitational force on the particle due to the earth is

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4. Let the period of revolution of a planet at a distance R from a star be T. Prove that if
it was at a distance of 2R from the star, its period of revolution will be √8 T.

5. Solve the following examples.

a. An object takes 5 s to reach the ground from a height of 5 m on a planet. What is the value
of g on the planet?
Ans.

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b. The radius of planet A is half the radius of planet B. If the mass of A is MA, what must be
the mass of B so that the value of g on B is half that of its value on A?
Ans.

c. The mass and weight of an object on earth are 5 kg and 49 N respectively. What will be
their values on the moon? Assume that the acceleration due to gravity on the moon is 1/6th of
that on the earth.
Ans.

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d. An object thrown vertically upwards reaches a height of 500 m. What was its initial
velocity? How long will the object take to come back to the earth? Assume g = 10 m/s2
Ans.

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e. A ball falls off a table and reaches the ground in 1 s. Assuming g = 10 m/s2, calculate its
speed on reaching the ground and the height of the table.
Ans.

f. The masses of the earth and moon are 6 x 1024 kg and 7.4x1022 kg, respectively. The
distance between them is 3.84 x 105 km. Calculate the gravitational force of attraction between
the two? Use G = 6.7 x 10-11 N m2 kg-2.
Ans.

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g. The mass of the earth is 6 x 1024 kg. The distance between the earth and the Sun is 1.5x
1011 m. If the gravitational force between the two is 3.5 x 1022 N, what is the mass of the
Sun? Use G = 6.7 x 10-11 N m2 kg-2
Ans.