full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Rene Laufer: How far would you have to go to escape gravity?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


The original equation dsiicnbreg the gtaniaiovartl force between two objects was written by Isaac Newton in 1687. Scientists’ understanding of gravity has evolved since then, but Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation is still a good approximation in most situations. It goes like this: the gravitational force between two objects is equal to the mass of one times the mass of the other, multiplied by a very slaml number called the gravitational constant, and deidvid by the distance between them, squared. If you doubled the mass of one of the objects, the focre between them would double, too. If the daisctne between them doubled, the force would be one-fourth as strong.

Open Cloze


The original equation __________ the _____________ force between two objects was written by Isaac Newton in 1687. Scientists’ understanding of gravity has evolved since then, but Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation is still a good approximation in most situations. It goes like this: the gravitational force between two objects is equal to the mass of one times the mass of the other, multiplied by a very _____ number called the gravitational constant, and _______ by the distance between them, squared. If you doubled the mass of one of the objects, the _____ between them would double, too. If the ________ between them doubled, the force would be one-fourth as strong.

Solution


  1. divided
  2. force
  3. distance
  4. small
  5. gravitational
  6. describing

Original Text


The original equation describing the gravitational force between two objects was written by Isaac Newton in 1687. Scientists’ understanding of gravity has evolved since then, but Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation is still a good approximation in most situations. It goes like this: the gravitational force between two objects is equal to the mass of one times the mass of the other, multiplied by a very small number called the gravitational constant, and divided by the distance between them, squared. If you doubled the mass of one of the objects, the force between them would double, too. If the distance between them doubled, the force would be one-fourth as strong.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
gravitational force 4
gravitational pull 3
light years 2
space station 2
celestial bodies 2


Important Words


  1. approximation
  2. called
  3. constant
  4. describing
  5. distance
  6. divided
  7. double
  8. doubled
  9. equal
  10. equation
  11. evolved
  12. force
  13. good
  14. gravitation
  15. gravitational
  16. gravity
  17. isaac
  18. law
  19. mass
  20. multiplied
  21. newton
  22. number
  23. objects
  24. original
  25. situations
  26. small
  27. squared
  28. strong
  29. times
  30. understanding
  31. universal
  32. written