Space > The Earth's Gravitational Field
The Earth has a gravitational field that exerts a force on objects both on it and around it
Students learn to:
- define weight as the force on an object due to a gravitational field explain that a change in gravitational potential energy is related to work done
- Explain that a change in gravitational potential energy is related to work done
- define gravitational potential energy as the work done to move an object from a very large distance away to a point in a gravitational field
Students:
- perform an investigation and gather information to determine a value for acceleration due to gravity using pendulum motion or computer assisted technology and identify reason for possible variations from the value 9.8 ms-2
- gather secondary information to predict the value of acceleration due to gravity on other planets
- analyse information using the expression:
to determine the weight force for a body on Earth and for the same body on other planets
Extract from Physics Stage 6 Syllabus (Amended October 2002). © 2009, Board of Studies NSW.