Related Concept Videos

Gravity between Spherical Bodies01:27

Gravity between Spherical Bodies

Newton's law of gravitation describes the gravitational force between any two point masses. However, for extended spherical objects like the Earth, the Moon, and other planets, the law holds with an assumption that masses of spherical objects are concentrated at their respective centers.
This assumption can be proved easily by showing that the expression for gravitational potential energy between a hollow sphere of mass (M) and a point mass (m) is the same as it would be for a pair of extended...
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Gravitation01:16

Gravitation

In the years before Newton, a general belief prevailed that different laws governed objects in the sky than objects on Earth. When Kepler wrote down the three laws of planetary motion, explaining in detail the geometrical properties of the planetary orbits around the Sun, there was no immediate idea to discern their connection with more fundamental laws. It was Isaac Newton who, in 1665–66, figured out the connection between planetary motion, the motion of the moon around the Earth, and...
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Cause and Effect01:53

Cause and Effect

While variables are sometimes correlated because one does cause the other, it could also be that some other factor, a confounding variable, is actually causing the systematic movement in our variables of interest. For instance, as sales in ice cream increase, so does the overall rate of crime. Is it possible that indulging in your favorite flavor of ice cream could send you on a crime spree? Or, after committing crime do you think you might decide to treat yourself to a cone?
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Requirements for Human Life01:26

Requirements for Human Life

The Earth and its atmosphere have provided humans with air, water, and food, but these are not the only requirements for survival. Humans also require a specific range of temperature and pressure that the Earth and its atmosphere provides.
Oxygen
Atmospheric air is only about 20 percent oxygen, but that oxygen is a key component of the chemical reactions that keep the body alive, including the reactions that produce ATP. Brain cells are susceptible to a lack of oxygen because they require a...
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Simple Harmonic Motion and Uniform Circular Motion01:42

Simple Harmonic Motion and Uniform Circular Motion

While simple harmonic motion and uniform circular motion may be two separate concepts, they correlate and interlink with each other. Simple harmonic motion is an oscillatory motion in a system where the net force can be described by Hooke's law, while uniform circular motion is the motion of an object in a circular path at constant speed.
There is an easy way to produce simple harmonic motion by using uniform circular motion. For instance, consider a ball attached to a uniformly rotating...
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Mass and Weight01:19

Mass and Weight

Mass and weight are often used interchangeably in everyday conversation. For example,  medical records often show our weight in kilograms, but never in the correct units of newtons. In physics, however, there is an important distinction. Weight is the pull of the Earth on an object. It depends on the distance from the center of the Earth. Weight dramatically varies if we leave the Earth's surface, unlike mass, which does not vary with location. On the Moon, for example, the...
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