Final answer:
Newton's discovery in physics revealed that the gravitational field of an object is related to its mass. The force is also guided by the inverse square law, which is expressed as Fgravity = G (M1 M2) / R^2, where G is the gravitational constant.
Step-by-step explanation:
Newton found that the gravitational field surrounding an object results from an increase in that object's mass. He postulated a force between any two objects that is proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. This law, known as Newton's law of universal gravitation, can be expressed by the famous equation:
Fgravity = G (M1 M2) / R^2
where Fgravity is the force of gravity, G is the universal gravitational constant, M1 and M2 are the masses of the two objects, and R is the distance between their centers. The gravitational field is therefore a vector pointing toward the center of the object of mass M and the strength of this field can be described with g = GM / r^2, where g is the gravitational field strength, M is the mass, and r is the distance from the center of mass.