## Gravitational field, Intensity of Gravitational field and its expression

Definition of Gravitational Field:

The region around an object in which another object experiences a gravitational force then the region of that object is called the gravitational field.

Gravitational Field Intensity:

The force applied per unit mass of an object that is placed in the gravitational field is called the intensity of the gravitational field.

$\overrightarrow{E}=- \frac{G \: M}{r^{2}} \hat{r}$

The Expression for gravitational field intensity:

Let us consider
The mass of a lighter object that experience the force = $m$
The mass of a heavy object that produces the gravitational field= $M$
The distance between the objects = $r$

The gravitational force between the objects is

$F=G\frac{M\:m}{r^{2}} \qquad(1)$

Now the force per unit mass i.e Gravitational field intensity

$E=-\frac{F}{m} \qquad (2)$

Here the negative indicates that the direction of force is opposite to $\hat{r}$

The vector form of the gravitational field intensity

$\overrightarrow{E}=-\frac{F}{m} \hat{r}$

Where $\hat{r} \left (=\frac{\overrightarrow{r}}{r} \right)$ is the unit vector along the $\overrightarrow{r}$

Now substitute the value of $F$ in the above equation $(2)$. Therefore we get,

$E=-G \frac{M\:m}{m r^{2}}$

$E=- \frac{G \: M}{r^{2}}$

The vector form of the above equation

$\overrightarrow{E}=- \frac{G \: M}{r^{2}} \hat{r}$