Gravity

Drecya:

Gravity is an attractive force that is often characterized as a pull. It is the force that attracts things with mass to one another. In the case of gravity acting as a pull, there is no identifiable “thing” performing the tugging in the same sense that we could imagine a hand pulling an item with a rope. It is, instead, a basic natural force that exists between all things with mass. Every mass object in the cosmos has a gravitational attraction on every other mass object. The strength of the gravitational pull between two objects is controlled by two parameters, according to Newton’s law of universal gravitation: a) The two items’ masses: The larger the gravitational pull between the items, the bigger their mass. b) The distance between the two objects’ centers: The greater the gravitational pull, the closer the objects are to one other. As the distance between things grows, so does the force of gravity. On Earth, for example, our weight (the force of gravity acting on us) is controlled by our mass as well as the mass of the Earth, as well as the distance between the Earth’s center and our center. Similarly, the strength of gravity on the Moon is governed by the Moon’s mass and the distance between the Moon’s center and the center of an object. Gravity is weaker on the Moon than on Earth because it has less mass and is smaller in size.

Anna:

After reading the chapter and watching the videos assigned for this week I have a better knowledge of gravity and it’s relation to push/pull. 1.) Gravity is always a pull force, never a push.

2.) Gravity is a force that attracts something with mass towards the center of earth. Gravity is what keeps us on the ground and not randomly floating. Gravity is always forcing a pull force on objects when on earth. When gravity is pulling it is pulling any object with any mass. It is a strong force and can be considered gravitational pull. A push would be pushing something away or not attracting.

3.) The property of the object pushing determines how strong the force of gravity is on Earth. On the moon gravitational pull is altered as there is gravity but not as nearly as much. But on earth, objects that have a greater mass will have a greater gravitational pull.