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Acceleration of Gravity/Divergence Theorem

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Acceleration of Gravity. See attached file for full problem description.

Find the acceleration of gravity g for the following mass distribution. The mass distribution consists of an infinitely long "wire" of radius a running along the z axis, surrounded by empty space then by a hollow cylinder with inner radius b and outer radius c, also centered on the z axis. Both the inner wire and the outer cylinder have density p. In effect this looks like a coaxial cable oriented along the z axis. Be sure to describe the direction as well as the magnitude of g in all of the different regions: within the inner wire, between it and the hollow cylinder within the cylinder and outside the cylinder.

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Solution Summary

The solution calculates the acceleration of gravity with reference to an infinitely long wire.

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Please see the attached file.

Check out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divergence_theorem

The gravitational force is an inverse square force (that is conservative), therefore we can use Gauss law to calculate the "Gravitational Field" at distance r from the center of the earth:

That is, the flux of the gravitational field through a closed surface is proportional to the mass enclosed by this volume. The negative sign reflects the fact that the field lines are always going ...

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