Background material on gravity
Gravity and its context in physics. Centripetal forces in planetary motion. Newton's law of gravitation and Newton's shell theorem. Cavendish's experiment and G. Kepler's laws, Newton's laws, planetary and satellite orbits. Orbits and the centre of mass. "Weightlessness". Gravitational potential energy, escape velocity and black holes. The rotating frame and why the gravitational force is not (quite) vertical. The limits to Newtonian gravity. Comparing the forces of nature. The 'music of the spheres'. Includes
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