Question

What is the difference between gravitation and gravity.

Answer 1

Hint: We know that gravity and gravitation both are the forces so to find the difference between them we will use formulas for gravitation and gravity i.e. $F=\dfrac{G{{m}_{1}}{{m}_{2}}}{{{r}^{2}}}$ and $F=mg$ respectively.

Formula used: $F=\dfrac{G{{m}_{1}}{{m}_{2}}}{{{r}^{2}}}$, $F=mg$

Complete step by step solution:
In the question we are asked the difference between gravitation and gravity, there is a very minute difference between them which we will find by using the definition and formulas which are given as,
Gravitational Force: It is the force acting between two bodies in the universe. It is expressed mathematically as, $F=\dfrac{G{{m}_{1}}{{m}_{2}}}{{{r}^{2}}}$.
Gravity force: It is the force applied by the earth on any object present near it. It is expressed mathematically as, $F=mg$.
Now, we will consider other differences such as,
Gravitation can be attractive or repulsive while gravity is only an attractive force.
Gravitational force is weaker in comparison to the gravity of the earth.
Now, in expression of gravitation the value of G is $6.67\times {{10}^{-11}}N{{m}^{2}}/k{{g}^{2}}$ which is universal constant, while the value of g in expression of gravity is not same everywhere in the universe and it is taken as $9.81m/{{s}^{2}}$ on Earth.

Note: Many times a student might get confused between the term’s gravity and gravitation and due to that might consider wrong values of G or g during calculations and due to that the answer will be wrong or partially correct. So, students must learn the basic difference between the terms before using them anywhere in the solutions.