Learning Goal
Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation and Einstein's Theory of General Relativity
Teacher tools for this standard
Lesson Plan · Guided Notes · Exit Ticket · Re-teach · Homework
Teacher tools for this standard
Lesson Plan · Guided Notes · Exit Ticket · Re-teach · Homework
- Lesson Plan →Objectives, pacing and practice, built from this lesson's brief.
- Guided Notes →One page your students fill in and keep.
- Exit Ticket →Three items at the end of class. No student accounts.
- Re-teach →After an exit ticket: who missed what, and what to do tomorrow.
- Homework →Assign practice; it grades itself.
"Expressed in modern language, Newton's universal law of gravitation states that every object in the universe attracts every other object with a force that is directed along a line joining them. The force is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them."
"G is a universal constant, meaning that it is thought to be the same everywhere in the universe. It has been measured experimentally to be G = 6.673 × 10⁻¹¹ N·m²/kg²."
"Einstein based his theory on the postulate that acceleration and gravity have the same effect and cannot be distinguished from each other. He concluded that light must fall in both a gravitational field and in an accelerating reference frame."
"To summarize the two views of gravity, Newton envisioned gravity as a tug of war along the line connecting any two objects in the universe. In contrast, Einstein envisioned gravity as a bending of space-time by mass."
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"Expressed in modern language, Newton's universal law of gravitation states that every object in the universe attracts every other object with a force that is directed along a line joining them. The force is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them."
"G is a universal constant, meaning that it is thought to be the same everywhere in the universe. It has been measured experimentally to be G = 6.673 × 10⁻¹¹ N·m²/kg²."
"Einstein based his theory on the postulate that acceleration and gravity have the same effect and cannot be distinguished from each other. He concluded that light must fall in both a gravitational field and in an accelerating reference frame."
"To summarize the two views of gravity, Newton envisioned gravity as a tug of war along the line connecting any two objects in the universe. In contrast, Einstein envisioned gravity as a bending of space-time by mass."
What you'll learn
- State Newton's law of universal gravitation and write its equation F = GmM/r²
- Explain the gravitational constant G and distinguish it from the local acceleration due to gravity, g
- Derive g = GM/r² and use it to explain why weight (not mass) varies from body to body
- Perform calculations using F = GmM/r² and the orbital relation r³/T² = GM/4π²
- Describe the Cavendish experiment and why measuring G was difficult
- Explain Einstein's theory of general relativity at a conceptual level and contrast it with Newton's view of gravity
Slides
Step through the lesson, or watch it as a narrated video
Slides
In development
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