Mediaspace scheduled maintenance: Aug 25, 2026 07:00 - 12:00 AM. During this time, videos will be temporarily unavailable. Check status updates.

Lecture

Gravitational Well: Development

Description

This lecture covers the concept of gravitational well, explaining the work required to move a unit mass to infinity from Earth's surface, the depth of Earth's gravitational well, the Moon's gravitational well, and a comparison of gravitational wells between Earth and Moon.

In MOOC

Space Mission Design and Operations

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Physics

Relativity: General relativity

Related concepts (28)

Gravitational field

In physics, a gravitational field is a model used to explain the influences that a massive body extends into the space around itself, producing a force on another massive body. Thus, a gravitational field is used to explain gravitational phenomena, and is measured in newtons per kilogram (N/kg). Equivalently, it is measured in meters per second squared (m/s2). In its original concept, gravity was a force between point masses.

Gravitational redshift

In physics and general relativity, gravitational redshift (known as Einstein shift in older literature) is the phenomenon that electromagnetic waves or photons travelling out of a gravitational well (seem to) lose energy. This loss of energy corresponds to a decrease in the wave frequency and increase in the wavelength, known more generally as a redshift. The opposite effect, in which photons (seem to) gain energy when travelling into a gravitational well, is known as a gravitational blueshift (a type of blueshift).

Gravitational constant

The gravitational constant (also known as the universal gravitational constant, the Newtonian constant of gravitation, or the Cavendish gravitational constant), denoted by the capital letter G, is an empirical physical constant involved in the calculation of gravitational effects in Sir Isaac Newton's law of universal gravitation and in Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity. In Newton's law, it is the proportionality constant connecting the gravitational force between two bodies with the product of their masses and the inverse square of their distance.

Gravitational wave

Gravitational waves are waves of the intensity of gravity that are generated by the accelerated masses of an orbital binary system, and propagate as waves outward from their source at the speed of light. They were first proposed by Oliver Heaviside in 1893 and then later by Henri Poincaré in 1905 as waves similar to electromagnetic waves but the gravitational equivalent. Gravitational waves were later predicted in 1916 by Albert Einstein on the basis of his general theory of relativity as ripples in spacetime.

Gravitational potential

In classical mechanics, the gravitational potential at a point in space is equal to 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.

Related lectures (42)

Escape and Transfer Velocity MOOC: Space Mission Design and Operations

Explores escape velocity, transfer velocity, and circular velocity in space mission design and operations.

Gravitational Waves: Observations and Implications

Explores the detection of gravitational waves, focusing on the first observation of a binary black hole merger and its implications for astrophysics.

Angular Momentum and Gravitational Law

Explores gravitational motion equations, energy conservation, black holes, and cosmology.

Scalar, Vector or Tensor? Gravity

Discusses defining tensors, space-time dimensionality, and challenges in formulating a relativistic theory of gravity.

Angular Momentum, Torque, and Law of Gravitation