Gravitational potential

Gravitational potential is gravitational potential energy per unit mass at a point in a gravitational field. Under the usual convention, its negative gradient gives gravitational acceleration.

Gravitational potential energy: Energy associated with the positions of masses interacting through gravity. Gravitational potential is this energy divided by mass.
Newtonian gravity: A theory in which masses attract through a force proportional to their product and inversely proportional to squared distance. The usual definition of gravitational potential comes from this theory.
Gravitational assist: A spacecraft trajectory maneuver that exchanges orbital energy and momentum with a moving celestial body. Potential energy helps track spacecraft speed changes during close planetary encounters.
Gravitational potential in general relativity: A weak-field approximation in general relativity that associates a Newtonian-like potential with spacetime curvature. Relativity has no universal global scalar potential equivalent to the Newtonian one.
Gradient: A vector operator that points toward the direction of greatest increase in a scalar field and measures its rate of change. Taking the gradient of potential determines the local gravitational field.
Gravitational constant: The proportionality constant setting the strength of gravity in Newtonian physics. It sets the scale of the potential generated by a given mass.
Geoid: An Earth-centered reference surface approximating mean sea level, defined by the planet's gravity and rotation. The geopotential helps define this reference surface used in geodesy.
Electric potential: Electric potential energy per unit charge in an electric field. It has the same scalar-potential structure, but couples to charge rather than mass.
Poisson's equation: A differential equation relating a scalar potential's Laplacian to its source density. For Newtonian gravity, mass density determines potential through this equation.
Spherical symmetry: Invariance of a physical system under rotations about a central point. It reduces many gravitational-potential calculations to a radial function.

Linked from 46 pages