Chapter 24: 56 - Excercises And Problems (page 658)
Newton鈥檚 law of gravity and Coulomb鈥檚 law are both inversesquare laws. Consequently, there should be a 鈥淕auss鈥檚 law for gravity.鈥 a. The electric field was defined as E u = F u on q /q, and we used this to find the electric field of a point charge. Using analogous reasoning, what is the gravitational field g u of a point mass?
Write your answer using the unit vector nr, but be careful with signs; the gravitational force between two 鈥渓ike masses鈥 is attractive, not repulsive. b. What is Gauss鈥檚 law for gravity, the gravitational equivalent of Equation 24.18? Use 桅G for the gravitational flux, g u for the gravitational field, and Min for the enclosed mass. c. A spherical planet is discovered with mass M, radius R, and a mass density that varies with radius as r = r011 - r/2R2, where r0 is the density at the center. Determine r0 in terms of M and R. Hint: Divide the planet into infinitesimal shells of thickness dr, then sum (i.e., integrate) their masses. d. Find an expression for the gravitational field strength inside the planet at distance r 6 R.
Short Answer
Hence, the gravitational field is
The gravitational Gauss' law is given as
The constant of the charge density is given by
The gravitational field inside the sphere is found to be

