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Gravitation

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Gravitation is a natural phenomenon by which objects with mass attract one another. In everyday life, gravitation is most commonly thought of as the agency which lends weight to objects with mass. Gravitation compels dispersed matter to coalesce, thus accounting for the existence of the Earth, the Sun, and most of the macroscopic objects in the universe. It is responsible for keeping the Earth and the other planets in their orbits around the Sun; for keeping the Moon in its orbit around the Earth; for the formation of tides; for convection, by which fluid flow occurs under the influence of a temperature gradient and gravity; for heating the interiors of forming stars and planets to very high temperatures; and for various other phenomena observed on Earth. Modern physics describes gravitation using the general theory of relativity, in which gravitation is a consequence of the curvature of spacetime which governs the motion of inertial objects. The simpler Newton's law of universal gravitation provides an accurate approximation for most calculations.

The terms gravitation and gravity are mostly interchangeable in everyday use, but a distinction is made in scientific circles. "Gravitation" is a general term describing the phenomenon by which bodies with mass are attracted to one another, while "gravity" refers specifically to the net force exerted by the Earth on objects in its vicinity as well as by other factors, such as the Earth's rotation.

For more information about Gravitation, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.


News tagged with gravity

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Proposed Spacetime Structure Could Provide Hints for Quantum Gravity Theory

Proposed Spacetime Structure Could Provide Hints for Quantum Gravity Theory

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Dec 16, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (53) | comments 15

(PhysOrg.com) -- Spacetime, which consists of three dimensions of space and one time dimension, is such a large, abstract concept that scientists have a very difficult time understanding and defining it. Moreover, ...


Yellowstone's plumbing exposed

Yellowstone's plumbing exposed

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Dec 14, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (48) | comments 18

(PhysOrg.com) -- The most detailed seismic images yet published of the plumbing that feeds the Yellowstone supervolcano shows a plume of hot and molten rock rising at an angle from the northwest at a depth ...


Prof gets messages from space

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Dec 08, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (6) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Barbara Frisken received several messages from outer space this year on her answering machine.


Robert Thirsk

ISS astronauts land safely in Kazakhstan

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Dec 01, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

A space capsule carrying a Belgian, a Canadian and a Russian landed safely in the steppes of Kazakhstan on Tuesday after the trio spent half a year on the International Space Station (ISS).


Astronaut balancing act: Training to help explorers adapt to a return to gravity

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Dec 09, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Astronauts returning from challenging long-duration missions face one more challenge when they get back to Earth - standing up and walking.