Week 15 (Apr. 20 - 24)

Universal Gravitation (ASGv2 Chap. 27), Hypothesis and Natural Theology (ASGv2 Chap. 28), The principle of relativity (ASGv2 Chap. 29)

Key topics: Kepler's laws of motion, Newton's universal law of gravitation, natural theology, scientific apologetics, and Newton's argument from design.

PHY 201 lecture: gravitation of extended bodies; integral calculus approach to computing the gravitational attraction of a mass toward a curved bar
Homework:
  1. Acceleration and the force of gravity (Ex. 27.1)
  2. Meteor problem: A dangerous meteor flies past the Earth. It passes a distance of 5 earth radii from the surface of the earth. What is the acceleration of the meteor at this distance? (Video solution).
  3. Mass of Jupiter: Io, a small moon of Jupiter, has an orbital period of 1.77 days and an orbital radius of 4.22 x 10^5 km. From this data, determine the mass of Jupiter. (Video solution).
  4. PHY 201: Steel, silk and gravity (Ex. 27.3)
  5. PHY 201 challenge problem: A 10 kg thin metal bar of length 1 meter is curved into a semicircle having a radius of curvature of 3 meters. A small 5 kg mass is placed at the center of curvature. What is the gravitational force exerted by the curved bar on the small mass? (Hint: we worked out a similar problem in class on Thursday. You can use the solution from class; no need to go through the whole derivation. You just need to change the mass per length, lambda, and the angles involved in the integration. Answer: 3.7 x 10^(-10) Newtons)

Lab: Relativity laboratory (Ex. 29.2). (Videos provided down below…)

Chapter 27: Six videos explaining how Newton arrived at his universal law of gravitation.













Chapter 28: One video describing Newton's natural theology. Newton believes that looking at nature points clearly to God and his attributes.



Relativity Lab: (Four videos)









Physics 1