Is gravity and acceleration connected?

Answer 1

Yes.

Einstein's General Theory of Relativity deals with the relative equivalence of accelleration and gravitational forces - in other words, an accellerated frame of reference is equivalent to a stationary frame of reference in a gravitational field that causes accelleration of the same amount as the accellerated frame of reference - or something like that.

Corrolaries that followed from the basic premise predicted the bending of light rays in a gravitational field - which was observed in about 1917 - catapulting Einstein into international Physicist/Rock-Star fame. Astronomers recently observed extremely distant galaxies using gravitational lenses based on the theory.

Answer 2

By gravity, if you mean the force of gravity, F, then F = mg = GmM/R^2; and m is the mass of something accelerated at a rate of g m/sec^2 or ft/sec^2. M, as far as you are concerned, is the mass of Earth and R is the distance between you and the center of the Earth...its radius. G is just a constant of proportionality.

We often call the force of gravity weight (W). That is, when you get on the bathroom scale to weigh yourself, what you see in pounds or Newtons is a measure of the force of gravity on your body of mass m. So we often write F = W = mg to show that we are talking about weight (W) instead of some generic force.

So there you have the force of gravity-acceleration connection. That is, F = W = mg; so that W/m = g, where W is that gravitational force we call weight and g is the acceleration due to that gravitational force acting on a mass.

Answer 3

Most certainly. If you think back to Newton's law concerning the attractive force between two bodies of mass 'm' and 'M' separated by a distance 'r', you will recall that the attractive force between them due to "gravity" is F=GmM/r^2, where 'G' is the gravitational constant (some number that you can Google later). Now let us apply this formula near the earth's surface. The force on an object in the vertical direction due to gravity will be proportional to the mass of the object, however it will also be nearly independent of the height 'h' for heights small compared to the earth's radius 'R'. If this is the case, then F=GmM/(R+h)^2~GmM/R^2=mg, where g=GM/R^2 is called the "acceleration of gravity." The reason it is called this way is because of Newton's other famous law relating force and acceleration through mass: F=ma. In the special case that a=g, this is known as the law of gravity for objects near the earth's surface, or simply as the "law of gravity". In class you should also have been told that on Earth 'g' is numerically equal to 9.8 m/s^2, or equivalently to 32 ft/s^2. Of course, because different planets have different masses 'M', the gravity there (i.e. the value of 'g') will generally differ from that on Earth, so that although your mass 'm' is the same everywhere (we are not considering relativistic effects), your weight which is given by F=mg will vary when measured from planet to planet.

Answer 4

Gravity is a force between masses of objects F=MA
a = f/m

. Acceleration is the change in velocity over time. Related yes, one causes the other

Answer 5

Gravity does accelerate objects near the earth's surface at a rate of 9.8 meters per second squared.

Answer 6

Gravity and the acceleration due to gravity are.

Answer 7

That is the reason 'g ' is named 'acceleration due to gravity'