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Gravitational Potential.

Starting from the surface of a spherical planet, the gravitational potential at a point a distance - r - from the centre of mass of the planet is given by V = -GM / r where M is the mass of the planet.This means that the gravitational potential at a point is inversely proportional to the distance from the centre of mass of the planet of radius R.

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Specification: Edexcel Physics (9PH0), A-level, Topic 12: Gravitational Fields. Topic: Gravitational Fields.

Key terms in this lesson

lepton number
A quantum number assigned +1 to leptons, -1 to antileptons and 0 to other particles, conserved in every interaction.

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