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JEE Main & Advanced / Physics / Chapter 10

Gravitation

Move from Newton's law to field, potential, escape speed, and satellite motion with a JEE-centered understanding of gravitational systems.

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JEE Intro

How to Think About Gravitation

Move from Newton's law to field, potential, escape speed, and satellite motion with a JEE-centered understanding of gravitational systems.

This chapter is written as original Learn at My Place teaching copy. The aim is to give you the JEE decision-making layer: what equation to trust, what approximation is valid, and where exam traps usually appear.

Read the full note once, then revisit the quick revision block before solving your own practice questions.

Section A

Notes: Gravitation

Original teaching copy for Learn at My Place
1. Universal Gravitation, Field, and Potential2. Variation of g, Satellite Motion, and Escape Speed

1. Universal Gravitation, Field, and Potential

The force between two masses is:

F=Gm1m2r2F = G\frac{m_1m_2}{r^2}
It is always attractive and acts along the line joining the masses.

Gravitational field and potential due to a point mass MM are:

g=GMr2,V=−GMrg = \frac{GM}{r^2}, \qquad V = -\frac{GM}{r}
The negative sign in potential matters because zero is taken at infinity.

2. Variation of g, Satellite Motion, and Escape Speed

For small height hh above Earth, gg decreases approximately as gh≈g(1−2h/R)g_h \approx g(1-2h/R). For depth dd inside a uniform Earth model, gd=g(1−d/R)g_d = g(1-d/R).

For a circular orbit of radius rr:

vo=GMr,T=2πr3GMv_o = \sqrt{\frac{GM}{r}}, \qquad T = 2\pi\sqrt{\frac{r^3}{GM}}
Escape velocity from the surface is:
ve=2gRv_e = \sqrt{2gR}

Quick Revision

Last 5-Minute Recall

JEE exam rule: First identify the governing principle. Most errors happen because students choose the wrong framework before they start the algebra.
Newton's inverse-square law
Field and potential as two complementary viewpoints
Variation of g with height and depth
Orbital speed, time period, and escape velocity
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