Assumptions - Inverse Square Law
The Applet simulates the gravitational
field outside and inside a sphere of uniform mass density and, in
another mode, the electric field outside and inside a sphere of
uniform charge density.
The applet makes the following assumptions:
- The source object, i.e., the object responsible for the
existence of the field (either electric or gravitational) is
perfectly spherical with a radius R.
- The source object's mass density (or charge density) is
uniform throughout the object.
A consequence of the first two assumptions is that the
magnitude of the field (either electric or gravitational)
accompanying the source object has the following dependence on the
distance d of the field point from the center of the
source:
- outside the source object: proportional to
1/d2,
- inside the source object: proportional to d.