- #1
jacobfreeze
- 6
- 0
Does anyone have an intuitive explanation why the gravitational force of a sphere on a distant point is the same as if all the sphere's mass were concentrated at the center? The usual integration over spherical shells goes through o.k. but the result is so simple it seems to me that maybe we could get there by insight instead of calculation...or at least part of the way there...
Do we have the same result for a disk or a ring and a point in the same plane? Is the gravitational force of a ring on a point in the same plane equivalent to the force from the same mass concentrated at the center of the ring?
I think this is true...so is there an intuitive way to get this result in the simpler case of a ring and a co-planar point, and does the spherical case then follow?
Do we have the same result for a disk or a ring and a point in the same plane? Is the gravitational force of a ring on a point in the same plane equivalent to the force from the same mass concentrated at the center of the ring?
I think this is true...so is there an intuitive way to get this result in the simpler case of a ring and a co-planar point, and does the spherical case then follow?