1kg). Thus the gravitational potential V r due to mass m at a distance r is V r Gm ( . ) m Figure . Point mass placed at a distance Gravitational field and gravitational force are vector quantities whereas the gravitational potential and gravitational potential energy are scalar quantities.
The motion of particles can be easily analyzed using scalar quantities than vector quantities. Consider the example of a falling apple: Figure . shows an apple which falls on Earth due to Earth’s gravitational force. This can be explained using the concept of gravitational potential V r as follows.
height h to h , then the potential energy at h is U h mgR mgh e ( . ) and the potential energy at h is U h mgR mgh e ( . ) The potential energy difference between h and h is U h U h mg h h