Masses and How They Affect Gravity Vocabulary

Front

What is an orbit?

Back

The curved path that an object, such as a planet or satellite, follows around another celestial body due to gravity.

Front

What is a force field?

Back

A region of space where a force acts on an object.

Front

What is an attractive force?

Back

A force that pulls objects toward each other, often due to gravity or electromagnetism.

Front

What is an ellipse?

Back

A geometric shape that is a flattened circle or oval, characterized by its two axes, major and minor, which may have different lengths.

Front

What is a solar system?

Back

A system comprising the sun and the celestial bodies that are gravitationally bound to it, including planets, moons, asteroids, comets, and other objects.

Front

What is gravity?

Back

A force that attracts two bodies toward each other, proportional to their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centers.

Front

What is mass?

Back

A measure of the amount of matter in an object, typically measured in kilograms.

Front

What is weight?

Back

The force exerted by gravity on an object, calculated as the mass of the object multiplied by the acceleration due to gravity.

Front

What is a planet?

Back

A celestial body that orbits a star, is spherical in shape, and has cleared its orbit of other debris.

Front

What is a satellite?

Back

An object that orbits a planet or another celestial body.