Course Physics1

The gravitational force is the force exerted by a mass M on another mass m. This force follows Newton's law of gravitation or the law of universal attraction (Newton's 4th law), is defined by

$\overrightarrow{F_{M\to m}}=G\frac{\mathit{Mm}}{r^2}\vec{u}$

r: is the distance between the centers of mass of M and m.

G: is the universal gravitational constant $(G=6.67384\mathrm{.}{10}^{-11}{\mathit{Nm}}^2{\mathit{Kg}}^{-2}(\mathit{SI}))$

$\vec{u}$: is a unit vector, it is directed from M to m.