What on Earth is Wrong with Gravity (3 of 20)

What on Earth is Wrong with Gravity

In 1686, he finally managed to break it down into one single mathematical equation.
Newton's understanding of gravity is actually incredibly simple - that the force between two objects depends on only two things, the mass of the objects and the distance they are apart.
So, the more massive the objects, the stronger the force, and, the further the objects are apart, the weaker the force.
See, it's easy to show actually.
Got a pen? So this is Newton's law of gravitation.
The force is equal to the masses of the two objects, divided by the square of the distance apart of the objects.

And then there's Newton's gravitational constant, that just sets the scale - it tells you the overall strength of gravity.
With one beautiful bit of maths, Newton had figured out gravity, but not just here on Earth.
The Moon seemed to orbit the Earth exactly as he predicted, as did the planets orbiting around the sun.
Newton believed we live in a universe in which ultimately the movement of everything can be predicted.
Newton's universal law of gravitation is one of the most important turning points in physics, and that's because it really is universal.
It allows you to predict not only how things move under the influence of gravity here on Earth but how the stars and planets and even galaxies move, all the way across the universe.
ARCHIVE: Ignition sequence start.
Nearly 300 years after the falling apple...
..it was Newton's ability to predict how the Moon orbits the Earth that allowed us to take a giant leap.
That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.