{"id":1814,"date":"2026-08-29T20:25:44","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T20:25:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/physicsfundamentalsinfo.com\/blog\/?p=1814"},"modified":"2026-08-29T20:25:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T20:25:48","slug":"law-of-gravitation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/physicsfundamentalsinfo.com\/blog\/mechanics\/law-of-gravitation\/","title":{"rendered":"Newton’s Law of Gravitation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Definition<\/div>

\nThe law of gravitation states that every particle of matter attracts every other particle with a force proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centres. Written as an equation, F equals G times m1 times m2 divided by r squared, where G is the gravitational constant.\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n

Drop your phone and it falls. Look up, and the Moon does not. For most of human history those looked like two different kinds of event \u2014 earthly things fell, heavenly things circled, and nobody expected one rule to cover both.<\/p>\n\n

Newton’s claim was that they are the same event. The Moon is<\/em> falling; it simply travels sideways fast enough to keep missing the Earth. One equation handles the phone, the Moon and the galaxy.<\/p>\n\n

What Is the Law of Gravitation?<\/h2>\n\n

The law of gravitation is Newton’s statement that any two masses attract each other along the line joining them, with a force that grows in proportion to both masses and shrinks with the square of the distance between them. It applies to every pair of masses in the universe \u2014 hence universal<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n

That word carries the whole argument. Newton was not claiming to have found a new force; he was claiming that the force already known to make apples fall was the same<\/em> force keeping planets in their orbits.<\/p>\n\n

What the law actually asserts<\/h3>\n\n