The gravitational potential energy of a system of two masses is negative. What does this imply?
Practice Questions
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Q1
The gravitational potential energy of a system of two masses is negative. What does this imply?
The masses are repelling each other
The masses are attracting each other
The system is in equilibrium
The potential energy is zero
A negative gravitational potential energy indicates that the masses are attracting each other.
Questions & Step-by-step Solutions
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Q
Q: The gravitational potential energy of a system of two masses is negative. What does this imply?
Solution: A negative gravitational potential energy indicates that the masses are attracting each other.
Steps: 5
Step 1: Understand what gravitational potential energy is. It is the energy stored in a system due to the position of two masses relative to each other.
Step 2: Recognize that gravitational potential energy can be positive or negative depending on the distance between the masses.
Step 3: Know that when the gravitational potential energy is negative, it means the two masses are closer together than a certain reference point (usually taken as infinity).
Step 4: Realize that negative gravitational potential energy indicates that the two masses are in a bound state, meaning they are attracting each other.
Step 5: Conclude that the negative value shows that work would need to be done to separate the masses, confirming their attraction.
