How does the gravitational potential change as you move away from a planet?
Practice Questions
Q1
How does the gravitational potential change as you move away from a planet?
It increases.
It decreases.
It remains constant.
It oscillates.
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
How does the gravitational potential change as you move away from a planet?
Step 1: Understand what gravitational potential is. It is the energy per unit mass that a mass would have due to the gravitational field of a planet.
Step 2: Recognize that gravitational potential is stronger (higher) when you are closer to the planet.
Step 3: As you move away from the planet, the gravitational force acting on you decreases.
Step 4: Since gravitational potential is related to the gravitational force, as you move further away, the gravitational potential also decreases.
Step 5: Conclude that the gravitational potential decreases as you move away from the planet.
Gravitational Potential – Gravitational potential is the work done per unit mass to move an object from infinity to a point in a gravitational field.
Distance from a Planet – As the distance from a planet increases, the gravitational influence weakens, leading to a decrease in gravitational potential.
