Gravitation - Part 1

Nirmaan Shanker, Hitesh Yalamanchili

January 2015

1 Introduction
For the longest time, humans have always desired to understand the gravitational forcethe force that holds us to
Earth, holds the Earth in orbit around the Sun, and ultimately causes black holes. While there is a lot of history
about the study of gravitation, in this set of notes, we will start our journey in the seventeenth century with Johannes
Kepler and his three laws. Then we will move on to the time of Newton and develop his theory of gravitation.
In particular, this lecture is geared towards preparing you for the F = ma exam. Therefore, this lecture will focus
on the easier topics of gravitation that you will need for the exam. In addition, there will not be a corresponding
problem set for this particular lecture, as we do not find it to be particularly necessary.

2 Keplers Three Laws

Throughout time, humans have always been interested in the night sky with its myriad of stars and planets. Many
people often kept track of the motion of the stars and planets with careful observations each night. Towards the
end of the sixteenth century, the astronomer Tycho Brahe studied the motions of the planets and created a set of
data that was, at its time, the most accurate set of data that had ever been created. One close companion of Brahe,
Johannes Kepler, analyzed this set of data and was able to empirically state three now fundamental laws of planetary
motion. These laws were:

1. The First Law: All planets move in elliptical orbits with the sun at one focus.
2. The Second Law: A line joining any planet to the sun sweeps out equal areas in equal times.
3. The Third Law: The square of the period of any planet is proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis
of its orbit. It turns out that this relationship is of the form:
4 2 a3
= T2
GM

These laws ultimately served as the foundation for Newtons theory, which he put forth later in the century. The
proofs of the second and third laws will be shown in the next section.
Keplers work should serve to remind us that before physicists can put forth any new theory, it is very important
to analyze data and empirically determine relationships between quantities, which can serve as the basis for a new
theory.

3 Newtons Law of Gravity

In 1687, Newton determined that there was a force of attraction between any two objects (Im sure youve heard of
the famed apple story...). Mathematically, he expressed gravitation as an inverse square law of the form,
Gm1 m2
F1,2 = 2 r1,2 ,
r1,2

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where m1 and m2 are the masses of the two objects, r1,2 is the distance between the two objects, r1,2 is the unit
vector pointing from m1 and m2 , and G is the proportionality constant, also known as the universal gravitational
constant. G was experimentally measured by the Cavendish experiment to have a value of 6.67 1011 Nm2 kg2 .
Note that this expression for the gravitational force satisfies Newtons Third Law: F1,2 = F2,1 . The sign change is
built into the force of gravitation, as the direction of unit vector reverses.
Additionally, another property of gravitation (and all central forces, for that matter) is that angular momentum is
conserved. This is easily seen by calculating the torque caused by the gravitational force:
Gm1 m2
r
= r 2 r = 0.
r1,2

Since the torque exerted by the gravitational force is zero, angular momentum must be conserved. Another property
of the gravitational force is that it is conservative. This is easily shown by taking the curl of the force field and
showing that it equals 0. However, since the concept of the curl is a topic in multivariable calculus, the proof will
not be shown in this lecture.
What we can discuss is that since gravity is conservative, the force must have a corresponding potential energy. The
expression for the potential energy is found by turning back to the work integral:
Z Z
Gm1 m2 Gm1 m2
U = 2 r
ds = 2 r + rd + r sin d).
r (dr
C r1,2 C r1,2

We have expanded ds using the spherical coordinate system in order to exploit its orthogonal properties. The only
dot product that is not zero is the first term. Also, exploiting the fact that the the integral is path independent since
gravity is conservative, we have:
Z r
Gm1 m2
U (r) = 2 dr.
r1,2

Here we have set our base value at to be 0, so that there can be a definite potential energy value at each radius.
Therefore, the potential energy is:
Gm1 m2
U (r) = .
r1,2

3.1 Proving Keplers 2nd Law

The second law can be proved by looking at the differential area element for a displacement dr in the orbit:
1
dA = |r dr| .
2
Taking the time derivative and writing it in terms of angular momentum we have:
 
dA 1 dr  L
= r =
dt 2 dt  2m

Since L is constant, the area swept through in a given period of time will be constant, thus proving the second law.

3.2 Proving Keplers 3rd Law

To prove the third law, we will start by solving the differential equation above. Since the right hand side is constant
and noting that the area of an ellipse is ab, we have:
LT
ab =
2M
Reorganizing and simplifying, we get:
2abM
T = ,
L

2
and squaring, we get:
4 2 a2 b2 M 2
T2 =
L2
L2 b2
After using several properties of ellipses to show that GM 3 = a, we can then conclude that:

L2 b2 GM
2
=
M a
Substituting, we get:
4 2 a3
T2 =
GM
Thus, we have proved Keplers Third Law. Note that the properties of ellipses required to conclude the second-to-last
relation involve equations regarding eccentricity, which have been omitted from this proof to make it cleaner and
more straightforward for the purpose of the F = ma exam.

3.3 Keplers Third Law For Circular Orbits Derivation

To do this we simply write the F = ma equation and note that the orbiting object is undergoing centripetal
acceleration:
Gm1 m2 v2
= m 2
r2 r
2r
Substituting v = T and solving for T 2 , we get,

4 2 r3
T2 = ,
Gm1
which verifies the results.

4 Example Problems

4.1 Example 1: Escape Velocity

Problem: A satellite (with mass m) starts at the radius of the Earth (with mass M and radius R) at rest. What
must its velocity be so that it can escape Earths gravity?
Solution: This is a simple application of the conservation of energy principle.
1 GM m
mv 2 = 0.
2 R
Therefore, the escape velocity must be: r
2GM
v=
R

4.2 Example 2: Circular Orbits

(2014 F = ma #22) Problem: A body of mass M and a body of mass m  M are in circular orbits about their
center of mass under the influence of their mutual gravitational attraction to each other. The distance between the
bodies is R, which is much larger than the size of either body. A small amount of matter m  m is removed from
the body of mass m and transferred to the body of mass M . The transfer is done in such a way so that the orbits of
the two bodies remain circular, and remain separated by a distance R. Which of the following statements is correct?

(A) The gravitational force between the two bodies increases.

(B) The gravitational force between the two bodies remains constant.

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 (C) The total angular momentum of the system increases.
(D) The total angular momentum of the system remains constant.
(E) The period of the orbit of the two bodies remains constant.

Solution: The original gravitational force between the two bodies is clearly
GmM
F = .
R2
The new value of the force is given by:
G(m m)(M + m) M m (M m)m (m)2
F0 = 2
=G
R R2
Ignoring irrelevant terms, we we can rewrite the new force in terms of the old force as:
 
m
F0 = 1 F
m
This analysis clearly rules out the first two choices. In terms of angular momenta, we have,

Lm = mvr,

where r is the distance from m to the center of mass, r = MM +m R. With a little bit of manipulation we have,
s 
mv 2

Lm = mvr = m r3 = mr3 F .
r

Similarly, we have
LM = M r3 F
We see that in the new configuration, that F decreases and therefore the angular momentum of each mass also
decreases. This rules out both angular momentum choices. Thus, we know that the answer must be (E). This can
be verified by simply seeing that since R is constant, T must be constant as well by Keplers Third Law.

4.3 Example 3: Circular vs. Elliptical Orbits

(F=ma 2012) Problem: Consider the two orbits around the sun shown below. Orbit P is circular with radius R,
orbit Q is elliptical such that the farthest point b is between 2R and 3R, and the nearest point a is between R/3
and R/2. Consider the magnitudes of the velocity of the circular orbit vc , the velocity of the comet in the elliptical
orbit at the farthest point vb , and the velocity of the comet in the elliptical orbit at the nearest point va . Which of
the following rankings is correct?

(A) vb > vc > 2va

(B) 2vc > vb > va
(C) 10vb > va > vc
(D) vc > va > 4vb

(E) 2va > 2vb > vc

Solution: For orbit P, we know that the velocity is always

r
GM
vc = .
R
We can find upper and lower bounds for va and vb . Let ra and rb be the distances at these points. Then, we have
s
2GM rb
va =
ra (ra + rb )

4
 c vc
Orbit Q

va
R
a b
vb

Orbit P

and s
2GM ra
vb = .
rb (ra + rb )
Therefore, r r
1 3
4 vc < va < 3 vc
5 5
and r r
1 1
vc < vb < vc .
15 5
From this, it is clear that va > vc and 10vb > va , so answer (C) is correct.

4.4 Example 4: Changing Orbits

(USAPHO 2015) Problem: A ship starts out in a circular orbit around the sun very near the Earth and has a goal
of moving to a circular orbit around the Sun that is very close to Mars. It will make this transfer in an elliptical
orbit as shown in bold in the diagram below. This is accomplished with an initial velocity boost near the Earth v1
and then a second velocity boost near Mars v2 . Assume that both of these boosts are from instantaneous impulses,
and ignore mass changes in the rocket as well as gravitational attraction to either Earth or Mars. Dont ignore the
Sun! Assume that the Earth and Mars are both in circular orbits around the Sun of radii RE and RM = RE /
respectively. The orbital speeds are vE and vM respectively.

i. Derive an expression for the velocity boost v1 to change the orbit from circular to elliptical. Express your
answer in terms of vE and .
ii. Derive an expression for the velocity boost v2 to change the orbit from elliptical to circular. Express your
answer in terms of vE and .
iii. What is the angular separation between Earth and Mars, as measured from the Sun, at the time of launch
so that the rocket will start from Earth and arrive at Mars when it reaches the orbit of Mars? Express your
answer in terms of .

Solution:

i. Consider a circular orbit of radius Rc . Considering centripetal forces, we get:

GMS v2
2
= c.
Rc Rc
Consider an elliptical orbit that has a closet approach of R1 and a farthest point of R2 . Considering energy,
1 2 GMS
v = E.
2 r
Considering angular momentum at the closest and farthest points,

v1 R1 = v2 R2 .

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 Combining, and focusing on the closest point,
!2
1 2 GMS 1 R1 GMS
v = v12 ,
2 1 R1 2 R2 R2
which can be solved for v1,
!2 !
1 2 R1 R2 R1
v 1 = GMS ,
2 1 R2 R1 R2
or, if we let R1 /R2 = ,
1 2 GMS
v (1 2 ) = (1 ),
2 1 R1
which simplifies into r
2
v1 = vE .
1+
This is necessarily greater than vE , so the boost required is:
r !
2
v1 = vE 1 .
1+

ii. Most of the previous work still applies, except we want to focus on the second circular orbit at R2 . Then
!2 ! !
1 2 1 GMS 1
v 1 = 1 ,
2 2 R2
which simplifies to s
2
v 2 = vM .
1 + 1\
This is less than vM however, so the rocket must receive a second positive boost:
s !
2
v2 = vM 1
1 + 1\
However, since we want the answer in terms of vE instead of vM , we have some more math to do. First, by
Keplers Third Law,
2 2
vE RE = v M RM ,
which implies p
vM = vE alpha.
Then, we find that the boost required, in terms of vE , is:
s !
2
v2 = vE 1
1 + 1\

iii. Keplers Third law gives the time for the orbital transfer
!3/2 !3/2
T 1 12 (RE + RM ) 1 +1
= = .
TM 2 RM 2 2
During this time, Mars has moved an angular distance of:
!3/2
T +1
M = 2 = ,
TM 2
while the rocket moves an angular distance , so the angular separation from the launch point, which is the
position of Earth, will be
!3/2 !
+1
= 1
2