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What is gravitational field and gravitational potential ?
Asked by Kiran Last Modified
Answer 
The gravitational field refers to the region of space surrounding a mass where another mass experiences a gravitational force. It's a vector field, meaning at each point in space, it has both magnitude and direction. The strength of the gravitational field depends on the mass of the object creating it and the distance from that object. In simpler terms, it's the force per unit mass experienced by a test mass placed at that point.
Gravitational potential, on the other hand, is a scalar field that describes the potential energy per unit mass at any point in space due to the gravitational field. It represents the work done per unit mass in moving a mass from a reference point (often infinity) to the point in question without changing its kinetic energy. Mathematically, it's usually defined as negative, with zero potential at infinity. The closer an object is to a massive body, the lower its gravitational potential energy.
Both concepts are crucial in understanding gravitational interactions and are fundamental in classical mechanics, astrophysics, and general relativity.
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gravitational field at a point is the force experienced by a unit mass placed at that point. Its direction is towards the center of the mass causing the gravitational field. units are newtons per kilogram (N/kg) in the International System of Units (SI)
it is a vector quantity
Gravitational potential
It is defined as the amount of work done to move an object from a reference point (often infinity) to a specific point in the gravitational field
it is a scalar quantity
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Pankaj Kumar Rai
Subject Matter Specialist in Physics(up to advance level of IIT/NEET) & Maths(up to XII standard)
Simran Singhal
Microbiologist with 2 years of experience 10th class biology and Neet students Botany
Gravitational field A gravitational field is the force field that exists in the space around every mass or group of masses. This field extends out in all directions, but the magnitude of the gravitational force decreases as the distance from the object increases. Gravitational potential Gravitational potential is a scalar field associating with each point in space the work (energy transferred) per unit mass that would be needed to move an object to that point from a fixed reference point. It is analogous to the electric potential with mass playing the role of charge. The reference point, where the potential is zero, is by convention infinitely far away from any mass, resulting in a negative potential at any finite distance. In mathematics, the gravitational potential is also known as the Newtonian potential and is fundamental in the study of potential theory. It may also be used for solving the electrostatic and magnetostatic fields generated by uniformly charged or polarized ellipsoidal bodies.
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