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Physics Lesson 8.1.4 - Gravity in Daily Life

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Welcome to our Physics lesson on Gravity in Daily Life, this is the fourth lesson of our suite of physics lessons covering the topic of Newton's Law of Gravitation, you can find links to the other lessons within this tutorial and access additional physics learning resources below this lesson.

Gravity in Daily Life

Since all objects attract each other because of gravitational force, then why we don't collapse with other people or objects around us?

The answer is simple. Gravitational force (as an attraction force between any two objects) depends on the object's dimensions and distance between them. Thus, if the gravitational force between Earth and a 50 kg object on its surface (using the simplified equation explained in the "Types of Forces I. Gravitational Force and Weight" tutorial, Fg = m × g), is

Fg = m × g
= 50 kg × 9.81 N/kg
= 490.5 N

But when this object is 1 m away from another identical object on Earth surface, the gravitational force produced is

Fg = G × m1 × m2/R2
= 6.674 × 10-11 × 50 × 50/12
= 1.6685 × 10-7 N

or approximately 3 billion times smaller than the gravitational force exerted by the Earth. This is the reason why we neglect the effect of gravitational attraction between two common objects.

You have reached the end of Physics lesson 8.1.4 Gravity in Daily Life. There are 5 lessons in this physics tutorial covering Newton's Law of Gravitation, you can access all the lessons from this tutorial below.

More Newton's Law of Gravitation Lessons and Learning Resources

Gravitation Learning Material
Tutorial IDPhysics Tutorial TitleTutorialVideo
Tutorial
Revision
Notes
Revision
Questions
8.1Newton's Law of Gravitation
Lesson IDPhysics Lesson TitleLessonVideo
Lesson
8.1.1Gravity, Centre of Gravity and Gravitation
8.1.2Recap on Gravitational Force. Newton's Law of Gravitation
8.1.3What Makes Objects Rotating in Orbits?
8.1.4Gravity in Daily Life
8.1.5The Two Types of Artificial Satellites

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