gravitational force decreases with distance. what does this mean for a space traveler who leaves earth in a spaceship?
Wt = m * g.
So the wt. decreases with distance.
When a space traveler leaves Earth in a spaceship, the decrease in gravitational force with distance becomes significant. This means that as the spaceship moves farther away from Earth, the gravitational force exerted on it by Earth decreases.
To better understand this concept, we can look at Newton's law of universal gravitation, which states that the force of gravity between two objects is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.
As the spaceship moves away from Earth, the distance between the spaceship and Earth increases. Since the gravitational force is inversely proportional to the square of the distance, the force decreases rapidly. This decrease in gravitational force manifests as a decrease in the weight experienced by the space traveler and the spaceship itself.
As a result, the space traveler and objects inside the spaceship become weightless or experience reduced weight as they move farther away from Earth. This phenomenon is most commonly observed in space missions, such as when astronauts orbiting the Earth or traveling to the Moon experience the absence of gravity or microgravity conditions.
It's important to note that while the gravitational force from Earth decreases with distance, it never truly reaches zero. However, when the distance becomes significantly large compared to Earth's size, the gravitational force becomes negligible compared to other forces acting in space, such as the gravitational force from other celestial bodies.