At what point in space is the gravitational potential zero?
Practice Questions
Q1
At what point in space is the gravitational potential zero?
At the center of the Earth.
At infinity.
At the surface of the Earth.
At the center of the Moon.
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
At what point in space is the gravitational potential zero?
Step 1: Understand what gravitational potential means. It is the potential energy per unit mass at a point in a gravitational field.
Step 2: Recognize that gravitational potential is affected by mass and distance. The closer you are to a mass, the higher the gravitational potential.
Step 3: Realize that as you move further away from a mass, the gravitational potential decreases.
Step 4: Consider what happens when you are very far away from any mass. At this point, the gravitational influence is negligible.
Step 5: Conclude that at an infinite distance from any mass, the gravitational potential is defined to be zero.
Gravitational Potential – Gravitational potential is the work done per unit mass to bring an object from infinity to a point in a gravitational field.
Reference Point – The concept of gravitational potential being zero at infinity serves as a reference point for measuring potential at other locations.
