Gravitational force exerted on an object always points towards the center of mass of the agent

Question

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

Consider the statement and what gravity does in a typical two-body scenario. 
Option 1: True. Gravitational force on an object due to another body (the attractor) points along the line connecting their centers of mass, i.e., toward the center of mass of the attracting body. In most practical cases, the attracting body (the agent) is a planet like Earth, so the force on an object near the surface points toward Earth's center. This direction is a direct consequence of Newton's law of gravitation: the force vector is along the line joining the centers of mass of the two bodies, toward the center of the attractor.
Option 2: False. If one were to claim False, the misconception would be that gravity could pull toward some other point or not along the line of centers, or that the force could be directed away from the attractor. But Newtonian gravity does not behave that way: the force is central and radial, directed to the center of mass of the attracting body. It is not directed toward arbitrary points on the surface or along a tangent; it is strictly along the line connecting the centers of mass.
Additional clarification: the phrase 'center of mass of the agent' aligns with the center of mass of the attracting body. In cases where the attracting body has a well-defined center of mass (which is effectively true for rigid bodies like planets), the gravitational force on the object points toward that center. Any deviation from this (for example, if the attracting body were not spherically symmetric or if tidal effects become significant) would be a higher-order subtlety, but the fundamental direction remains toward the center of mass of the attracting body for standard scenarios.
In summary, the core idea is that gravity is a central force that points along the line toward the center of mass of the body exerting the gravitational pull; thus the statement is consistent with Newtonian gravity, while the false option would require denying this central, center-pointing nature of gravity.

PHY132H1 S Quiz #1

Gravitational force exerted on an object always points towards the center of mass of the agent

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