Which of the following correctly describes the relationship between gravitationa
Practice Questions
Q1
Which of the following correctly describes the relationship between gravitational potential and gravitational field?
Potential is the derivative of field.
Field is the derivative of potential.
Both are independent.
They are equal.
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
Which of the following correctly describes the relationship between gravitational potential and gravitational field?
Step 1: Understand what gravitational potential is. It is the potential energy per unit mass at a point in a gravitational field.
Step 2: Understand what gravitational field is. It is a vector field that represents the force experienced by a unit mass at a point in space due to gravity.
Step 3: Learn about the gradient. The gradient is a mathematical operation that shows how a quantity changes in space.
Step 4: Realize that the gravitational field can be derived from the gravitational potential. This means that if you know the gravitational potential, you can find the gravitational field.
Step 5: The relationship is described as the gravitational field being the negative gradient of the gravitational potential. This means that the gravitational field points in the direction where the gravitational potential decreases the most.
