Gravity: A Force of Attraction 5.4

Effects of Gravity on Matter Gravity is a force of attraction between objects that is due to their masses All matter has mass. Gravity is a result of mass. Therefore all matter is affected by gravity, but the force is often too small to feel. Earth’s gravitational forces pulls everything towards the center of the Earth causing objects to fall due to unbalanced forces

Law of Universal Gravitation Part 1 – Gravitational force increases as mass increases. Gravitation force is small between objects that have small masses Gravitational force is large when the mass of one or both objects is large. Part 2 – Gravitational force decreases as distance increases. Gravitation force is strong when objects are close together Gravitational force decreases between objects the further apart they are.

Weight/Mass Weight is a measure of the gravitation force on an object. Its value can change with the location of the object in the universe due to a change in gravitational force. Unit of measure – newton (n) Mass is the amount of matter in an object and is a measure of its inertia or resistance to changes in movement. Unit of measure – gram (g) Mass and weight are proportional – Weight is 9.8 n/kg of mass. They are often confused because they are constant on Earth.