GRAVITY

POVZETEK: V diplomski seminarski nalogi se ukvarjam z vprašanjem gravitacije. V ta namen se najprej sprehodimo skozi zgodovino te teorije s poudarkom na pomembnejših znanstvenikih iz bližnje in pretekle zgodovine, ki so se zelo intenzivno in uspešno ukvarjali z raziskovanjem tega področja fizike in narave nasploh. V naslednjem poglavju predstavim grobi presek nekaterih pojavov, ki so povezani z gravitacijo, oziroma so neposredna posledica delovanja gravitacijske sile. V osrednjem delu naloge prikažem novejši izračun odklona navpičnice (t.j. črte, ki povezuje točko na površini Zemlje z njenim središčem), ki vključuje tudi učinek zemeljske sploščenosti. Do sedaj znana enačba za odklon navpičnice od radialne črte zanemarja učinek zemeljske sploščenosti in je nepravilna skoraj za faktor 2. V dodatku predstavljam nekaj zanimivih informacij in zgodbic povezanih s to temo. Ali je naloga uporabna za učitelje fizike ter učence in dijake? S pojmom gravitacija se učenci bolj podrobno prvič ukvarjajo pri fiziki v devetem razredu osnovne šole. To temo nadaljujejo pozneje v srednji šoli. V tej nalogi imajo učitelji na enem mestu zbrano zgodovino, teorijo, uporabo in zanimivosti s tega področja. Naloga je torej uporabna za učitelje fizike v osnovni in srednji šoli. Ker učitelji svoje znanje posredujejo naprej, pa je naloga posredno uporabna tudi za učence in dijake.ABSTRACT In my diploma seminar paper I am dealing with gravity. As to that, I firstly present the history of this theory – with the emphasis on significant scientists from near and distant past who have very intensively and successfully studied this field of physics as well as nature in general. The next chapter gives a brief overview of some phenomena that are related to gravity or are a direct result of the gravitational force effect. The central part of the assignment shows the new calculation of the vertical declination (the vertical is the line which connects a point on Earth’s surface to the centre of the planet), which also considers the effect of Earth’s oblateness. The present known equation, which calculates the declination of the vertical from the radial line, ignores the effect of Earth’s oblateness and is incorrect by almost factor 2. In the supplement, I present some interesting information and stories linked with this topic. Can this assignment be helpful to physics teachers and pupils? Yes. The latter gather their first wide experience with the term gravity in the ninth grade of the primary school at physics and later resume their knowledge in the secondary school. In this paper, teachers can find useful information regarding the field gravity – including history, use, theory and interesting details – in one place. By this means, this seminar paper can be of considerable assistance to physics teachers in primary and secondary schools. And since teachers pass their knowledge on, the paper is indirectly useful also for pupils