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14
Newtonian Gravity and
Newtonian Cosmology
14.1 NEWTON’S LAW OF GRAVITY
We were introduced to Newton’s law of gravity briey earlier in the discussion of the concept of force
in Chapter 2. Because it is another fundamental principle, let us revisit it and take a close look. This
law states that “between any two particles there is a force of attraction that is directly proportional to
the product of the masses of the particles and inversely proportional to the square of their distance
apart.” The justication for regarding this law as one of our fundamental principles lies in its univer-
sality. Newton was ...