Summary

Chapter 16, “Gravity’s Applications,” is divided into six sections. It starts off with a brief history of our understanding of gravity, and then defines a few keep terms and concepts. Once thought to be a natural tendency of all objects to move downward, gravity is now defined as the force of attraction one object or body exerts on another. Mass is the amount of space a person or object takes up. Multiply that by the pull of gravity to get the person’s or object’s weight – the amount of force they exert back down towards the Earth.

“g’s” represent the acceleration of gravity, or the change in speed cause by gravity. Objects moving at two times the speed of gravity are said to be going 2gs, objects moving at three times the speed of gravity...