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Q.Define the Gravitational Field and give its unit.

Tamil Nadu DgeTamil Nadu HSC First Year (DGE) Board 2025Subjective· 2mImportance★★★★★
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Gravitational field at a point is the force per unit mass a test mass would experience there, E_g = GM/r^2 (directed toward the source), with SI unit N/kg.

A mass M creates a 'field' of influence in the space around it -- any other mass placed anywhere in that space experiences an attractive force toward M. Rather than talking about the force on a specific mass, it is more fundamental to describe the field itself, independent of what test mass we place there.

Definition: The gravitational field (or gravitational field intensity) E_g at a point is the gravitational force F experienced by a small test mass m0 placed at that point, per unit of that test mass:

E_g = F / m0

For a point mass (or spherical mass) M, using Newton's law of gravitation F = GMm0/r^2, the field works out to:

E_g = GM / r^2

directed radially toward M (since gravity is always attractive).

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