Question

what is gravitational potential and gravitational potential energy and gravitational intensity?

Answer 1

Dear student

Gravitational potential at a point in the gravitational field is the amount of work done in bringing a unit mass from infinity to that point. It is a scalar quantity.

Gravitational potential energy is energy an object possesses because of its position in a gravitational field. The most common use of gravitational potential energy is for an object near the surface of the Earth where the gravitational acceleration can be assumed to be constant at about 9.8 m/s2

The intensity of gravitational field of a body at a point in the field is defined as the force experienced by a body of unit mass placed at that point provided the presence of unit mass does not disturb the original gravitational field. It is always directed towards the centre of the gravity of the body whose gravitational field is considered. Gravitational intensity is a vector quantity denoted as I.

I=GM/x2

Where G is the universal gravitational constant and M is the mass of the body. x is the distance of the point where the test mass is kept from the centre of the body whose gravitational field is considered.

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