Gravitational Force

One of the four fundamental forcesForces that govern the various interactions between particles. The four fundamental forces, or interactions, are (in order of increasing strength): gravitational force, the weak nuclear force, the electromagnetic force, and the strong nuclear force. The strong and weak nuclear interactions are short-range forces that are effective only within atomic nuclei., gravitation is the force of mutual attraction that is exerted between massive bodies and between particles that have mass. Although gravitation is far weaker than the other three fundamental forces over short ranges, it is the dominant force on large scales because its range of influence is far greater than that of the nuclear forces and because, unlike electrical charges, which can be positive or negative, all mass is mutually attractive. Gravitation alone determines motions of, and mutual interactions between, planets, stars and galaxies, and dominates the overall dynamics of the universeThat which contains and subsumes all the laws of nature, and everything subject to those laws; the sum of all that exists physically, including matter, energy, physical laws, space, and time. Also, a cosmological model of the universe..
Newton’s law of universal gravitation works in most situations, but is inadequate where gravityAttractive force between all matter - one of the four fundamental forces. is very strong (e.g., in the vicinity of a black holeMaximally gravitationally collapsed object predicted to exist by the theory of general relativity, from which no material object, light or signal of any kind can escape. Many black holes form when a high mass supergiant star explodes in a supernova explosion at the end of its life. A star probably, or when dealing with the structure and dynamics of the universe as a whole). The best present theory of gravitation is Einstein’s general theory of relativity, where mass distorts the geometry of 4-dimensional space-time. In this theory, paths followed by material particles, or rays of light, near massive bodies are determined by local distortions of space.
For two bodies, with masses m1 and m2, separated by distance, r, the mutual force of attraction, F, predicted by Newtonian theory is:

where, G = gravitational constant. An equal and opposite force acts on each mass, but the force acting on m₁ is in the opposite direction of that on m₂.