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How Spherical Is A Cube (Gravitationally)?, Jeff Sanny, David M. Smith
How Spherical Is A Cube (Gravitationally)?, Jeff Sanny, David M. Smith
Physics Faculty Works
An important concept that is presented in the discussion of Newton's law of universal gravitation is that the gravitational effect external to a spherically symmetric mass distribution is the same as if all of the mass of the distribution were concentrated at the center.1,2 By integrating over ring elements of a spherical shell, we show that the gravitational force on a point mass outside the shell is the same as that of a particle with the same mass as the shell at its center. This derivation works for objects with spherical symmetry while depending on the fact that the gravitational …