Gravity has traditionally been defined as a force of attraction between two masses. According to this conception of gravity, anything that has mass, no matter how small, exerts gravity on other matter. The effect of gravity is that objects exert a pull on other objects. Unlike friction, which acts only between objects that are touching, gravity also acts between objects that are not touching. In fact, gravity can act over very long distances. You are already very familiar with Earths gravity. It constantly pulls you toward the center of the planet. It prevents you and everything else on Earth from being flung out into space as the planet spins on its axis. It also pulls objects above the surface, from meteors to skydivers, down to the ground. Gravity between Earth and the moon and between Earth and artificial satellites keeps all these objects circling around Earth. Gravity also keeps Earth moving around the sun. Weight measures the force of gravity pulling on an object. Because weight measures force, the SI unit for weight is the newton (N). On Earth, a mass of 1 kilogram has a weight of about 10 newtons because of the pull of Earths gravity On the moon, which has less gravity, the same mass would weigh less. Weight is measured with a scale, like the spring scale in Figure 13.16. The scale measures the force with which gravity pulls an object downward. People have known about gravity for thousands of years. After all, they constantly experienced gravity in their daily lives. They knew that things always fall toward the ground. However, it wasnt until Sir Isaac Newton developed his law of gravity in the late 1600s that people really began to understand gravity. Newton is pictured in Figure 13.17. Newton was the first one to suggest that gravity is universal and affects all objects in the universe. Thats why his law of gravity is called the law of universal gravitation. Universal gravitation means that the force that causes an apple to fall from a tree to the ground is the same force that causes the moon to keep moving around Earth. Universal gravitation also means that while Earth exerts a pull on you, you exert a pull on Earth. In fact, there is gravity between you and every mass around you your desk, your book, your pen. Even tiny molecules of gas are attracted to one another by the force of gravity. Newtons law had a huge impact on how people thought about the universe. It explains the motion of objects not only on Earth but in outer space as well. You can learn more about Newtons law of gravity in the video at this URL: Newtons law also states that the strength of gravity between any two objects depends on two factors: the masses of the objects and the distance between them. Objects with greater mass have a stronger force of gravity. For example, because Earth is so massive, it attracts you and your desk more strongly than you and your desk attract each other. Thats why you and the desk remain in place on the floor rather than moving toward one another. Objects that are closer together have a stronger force of gravity. For example, the moon is closer to Earth than it is to the more massive sun, so the force of gravity is greater between the moon and Earth than between the moon and the sun. Thats why the moon circles around Earth rather than the sun. This is illustrated in Figure You can apply these relationships among mass, distance, and gravity by designing your own roller coaster at this URL: . Newtons idea of gravity can predict the motion of most but not all objects. In the early 1900s, Albert Einstein came up with a theory of gravity that is better at predicting how all objects move. Einstein showed mathematically that gravity is not really a force in the sense that Newton thought. Instead, gravity is a result of the warping, or curving, of space and time. Imagine a bowling ball pressing down on a trampoline. The surface of the trampoline would curve downward instead of being flat. Einstein theorized that Earth and other very massive bodies affect space and time around them
Output: scientist who proposed the law of universal gravitation