Related topics: galaxies , dark matter , dark energy
Gravitation
hideGravitation 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
New Law of Physics Could Explain Quantum Mysteries
Aug 17, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Since the early days of quantum mechanics, scientists have been trying to understand the many strange implications of the theory: superpositions, wave-particle duality, and the observer’s ...
Gravity waves could hold key to supersymmetry
Nov 05, 2008 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- "In Geneva," Anupam Mazumdar tells PhysOrg.com, "there is a big effort to discover supersymmetry particles at the Large Hadron Collider. But that is not the only way to find these particles. We should also b ...
Spacetime May Have Fractal Properties on a Quantum Scale
Mar 25, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Usually, we think of spacetime as being four-dimensional, with three dimensions of space and one dimension of time. However, this Euclidean perspective is just one of many possible multi-dimensional ...
Is Everything Made of Mini Black Holes?
May 18, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- In trying to understand how gravity behaves on the quantum scale, physicists have developed a model that has an interesting implication: mini black holes could be everywhere, and all particles ...
Invisible hand in invisible matter
Oct 06, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- An international team of astronomers have found an unexpected link between mysterious 'dark matter' and the visible stars and gas in galaxies that could revolutionise our current understanding ...
Fuzziness on the road to physics' grand unification theory
Oct 06, 2008 |
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Leave it to hypothesized gravity to weigh down what physicists have thought for 30 years. If theoretical physicists, led by the University of Oregon's Stephen Hsu, are right, the idea that nature's forces ...
Can R2 gravity explain dark matter?
Apr 20, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- "In many ways, the standard model of cosmology works very well," Jose Cembranos tells PhysOrg. "However, there are very basic features that we just do not know. We have dark energy and dark matter. They d ...
Study plunges standard Theory of Cosmology into Crisis
May 05, 2009 |
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As modern cosmologists rely more and more on the ominous “dark matter” to explain otherwise inexplicable observations, much effort has gone into the detection of this mysterious substance in the last two decades, yet no direct ...
Star crust 10 billion times stronger than steel, physicists find
May 06, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Research by a theoretical physicist at Indiana University shows that the crusts of neutron stars are 10 billion times stronger than steel or any other of the earth's strongest metal alloys.
Proposed Spacetime Structure Could Provide Hints for Quantum Gravity Theory
Dec 16, 2009 |
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(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
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Dec 14, 2009 |
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(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 ...
Gamma-ray photon race ends in dead heat; Einstein wins this round
Oct 28, 2009 |
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Racing across the universe for the last 7.3 billion years, two gamma-ray photons arrived at NASA's orbiting Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope within nine-tenths of a second of one another. The dead-heat finish ...
A Theory of Dark Matter
Sep 08, 2009 |
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Among the most astounding, unexpected, and important achievements of the past century (or even more) have been the discoveries of dark matter and dark energy, collectively dubbed the "dark sector."
The Edge of a Black Hole
Aug 18, 2009 |
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The existence of black holes is one of the most amazing and bizarre predictions of Einstein's theory of gravity. Despite his original misgivings about their reality, massive black hole holes are today believed ...
Researchers explain mystery of gravity fingers
Dec 11, 2008 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at MIT recently found an elegant solution to a sticky scientific problem in basic fluid mechanics: why water doesn't soak into soil at an even rate, but instead forms what look ...
