Universal gravitation

Ages

Introduction

Summary

Animated version of the famous Newton's drawing dealing with gravitation and the free fall of a body. Free fall and the launching of an object into orbit are both governed by the same theory of gravitation.
The plus and minus buttons enable you to observe different cases, from free fall (initial velocity zero) to escape velocity (11.3 km/s starting from  the ground.)
Frictional effects are ignored. Only the force of gravity is acting.

Goals

• To understand how to place an object in orbit.
• To show that circular motion is a special case of an elliptical orbit.

Features

Click on or to set the initial velocity of the cannon ball.

Tags

cannon Newton gravitation gravity satellite The-placing-of-a-satellite-in-orbit projectile trajectory free-fall speed velocity escape rocket