An artist's rendering of some of the forces of the universe. The apple falling is of course from the story of Isaac Newton discovering the law of gravity as an apple fell from a tree he was sitting underneath.
Windows to the Universe original image

Gravity Definition Page

Gravity is one of the universal forces of nature. It is an attractive force between all things. The gravitational force between two objects depends on their masses, which is why we can really only see gravity in action when at least one of the objects is very large (like the Earth).

Isaac Newton was the first scientist to define gravity using math. There will be a larger pull due to gravity if the objects' masses are larger and if the objects are closer together.

One thing we can do with Newton’s law is calculate an escape velocity for the Earth. That is the speed something has to go for it to escape the gravity of Earth. This number for Earth is about 11 km/s. This means that if you could throw a baseball at 11 km/s, it would never come down!

Last modified May 6, 2008 by Randy Russell.

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Windows to the Universe, a project of the National Earth Science Teachers Association, is sponsored in part is sponsored in part through grants from federal agencies (NASA and NOAA), and partnerships with affiliated organizations, including the American Geophysical Union, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Earth System Information Partnership, the American Meteorological Society, the National Center for Science Education, and TERC. The American Geophysical Union and the American Geosciences Institute are Windows to the Universe Founding Partners. NESTA welcomes new Institutional Affiliates in support of our ongoing programs, as well as collaborations on new projects. Contact NESTA for more information. NASA ESIP NCSE HHMI AGU AGI AMS NOAA