Saturday, 6 February 2016

Universal Gravitational Constant G: History of Physics for JSTSE Class 9

Universal Gravitational Constant G: History of Physics for JSTSE Class 9

Newton (1643-1727), Cavendish (1731-1810)

Newton published the law of gravitation in 1687. It may be stated as:

Gravitational force is proportional to the the product of the masses of the two bodies and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. In mathematical form,

F = G  m1 m2 / R2

The gravitational constant G was determined in 1797-98 by Cavendish with the help of a torsion balance. 

G = 6.67 X 10-11 N m2 kg-2


  • G is a fundamental physical constant.
  • The numerical value of G depends on the system of units used
  • G is a universal constant because it has the same value for any two bodies everywhere 



No comments:

Post a Comment