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Fields and Their Consequences

Gravitational potential

  • 4 things to know
  • Papers 2 and 3

Overview

Potential and potential difference, equipotential surfaces, and the graphs of g and V against r.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Numbers

How is work done in a gravitational field calculated, and what is potential difference?

Numbers

What is gravitational potential at distance r, and what are equipotential surfaces?

Numbers

What do the graphs of field strength and of potential against distance look like?

Numbers

How is gravitational field strength related to the gradient of gravitational potential?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Define gravitational potential at a point.

    Model answer

    Gravitational potential at a point is the work done per unit mass in bringing a small test mass from infinity to that point.

  2. 2

    What is the value of gravitational potential at infinity?

    Model answer

    Zero.

  3. 3

    Why is infinity chosen as the reference point where gravitational potential equals zero?

    Model answer

    At infinity, a test mass is so far from all other masses that there is no gravitational interaction, making it a convenient universal reference point.

  4. 4

    Define gravitational potential difference.

    Model answer

    Gravitational potential difference is the difference in gravitational potential between two points in a gravitational field.

  5. 5

    State the formula for the work done in moving a mass m through a gravitational potential difference ΔV.

    Model answer

    ΔW = mΔV

  6. 6

    In the equation ΔW = mΔV, what does each symbol represent?

    Model answer

    ΔW is the work done, m is the mass being moved, and ΔV is the gravitational potential difference between the two points.

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