Thursday, 27 June 2019

newtonian mechanics - Contradiction on gravitational potential energy


I was reading the derivation of the gravitational energy of a point mass and I seem to have found a contradiction.


The derivation in my textbook is given as follows:-


Let there me a large fixed mass 'M' and a small mass 'm' placed at a distance of r1 from mass M.


Now let there be some external force Fext that displaces mass m from r1 to r2.


Now according to the work energy theorem, we will have the following equation:- K2K1=Wg+Wext

If we make sure that the kinetic energy of the system does not increase:- 0=Wg+Wext
Wg=Wext
The change in gravitational potential energy of the system is equal to the negative of the work done by the gravitational force. U(r2)U(r1)=Wg
Now let r1=r and r2=r+dr where Dr is an infinitesimally small distance. U(r2)U(r1)=Fg.dr
Since the gravitational force and the displacement are in opposite directions:- U(r2)U(r1)=Fgdrcos(π)
U(r2)U(r1)=Fgdr
U(r2)U(r1)=GMmr2dr
U(r2)U(r1)=GMmr
Now let r1 = and r2=r U(r)U()=GMm(11r)
U(r)U()=GMm(01r)
Now we will assume that the potential at infinity is zero. U(r)=GMmr



My query:-


But if we let r1= and r2 = r , r1 will be greater than r2(since >r ). Our original assumption was that the mass m was moving away from the mass M and that's why the dot product of gravitational force and displacement was negative. But now we are assuming it is moving towards mass M (from infinity to a separation of r). This looks like a contradiction to me.




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