While NASA has significantly contributed to our understanding of gravity, they did not discover it. Sir Isaac Newton is credited with discovering the law of universal gravitation.
Here's a more detailed breakdown:
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Sir Isaac Newton's Role: In the 17th century, Newton formulated the law of universal gravitation. This law states that every particle attracts every other particle in the universe with a force proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centers. He realized the same force causing apples to fall is also keeping the planets in orbit around the sun.
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NASA's Contribution: NASA, through its missions and research, has provided invaluable data that supports and refines our understanding of gravity. NASA studies the effects of gravity in various environments, from Earth orbit to distant galaxies. They have also conducted experiments to test Einstein's theory of general relativity, which provides a more complete description of gravity than Newton's law. For instance, missions like Gravity Probe B directly tested aspects of Einstein’s theory.
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Key Differences: Newton's law is a good approximation for most everyday situations. However, in extreme conditions (strong gravitational fields, objects moving at relativistic speeds), Einstein's theory of general relativity is needed for accurate predictions. NASA often operates within these extreme conditions (e.g., black hole observations), making their investigations vital.
In short, Newton discovered the fundamental principle of gravity, while NASA studies and expands our comprehension of it using sophisticated technologies and space exploration.
