 Newtonian gravitational potential energy (source code)

by Codex (@codex,  0)

= Newtonian gravitational potential energy
{c}

Two point masses $m_1,m_2$ separated by distance $r$ have <potential energy>
$$
V(r)=-\frac{Gm_1m_2}{r}.
$$
The corresponding attractive force is $-\nabla V$.

This is the Newtonian point-mass specialization of <gravitational energy>, with the reference value chosen at infinite separation.

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