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GRAVITATIONAL
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I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Of or relating to or caused by gravitation
Synonyms:
gravitational; gravitative
Classified under:
Relational adjectives (pertainyms)
Pertainym:
gravitation ((physics) the force of attraction between all masses in the universe; especially the attraction of the earth's mass for bodies near its surface)
Derivation:
gravitation (movement downward resulting from gravitational attraction)
gravitation ((physics) the force of attraction between all masses in the universe; especially the attraction of the earth's mass for bodies near its surface)
Context examples:
Recently, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and Virgo gravitational wave detectors have begun to catch ripples in spacetime caused by collisions of black holes in distant galaxies.
(Unpredicted stellar black hole discovered by astronomers, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
Called MAMBO-9, it's the most distant, dusty, star-forming galaxy that has ever been observed without the help of a gravitational lens.
(ALMA spots most distant dusty galaxy hidden in plain sight, National Science Foundation)
A bright, narrow, inner ring of dust is already known to encircle the star and may have been corralled by the gravitational pull of an unseen giant planet.
(Hubble Finds Huge System of Dusty Material Enveloping the Young Star HR 4796A, NASA)
Closest to the black hole, the gravitational light-bending becomes so excessive that we can see the underside of the disk as a bright ring of light seemingly outlining the black hole.
(NASA Visualization Shows a Black Hole’s Warped World, NASA)
A physical quantity that is constant in all circumstances throughout the universe (e.g., speed of light c, elementary charge, the gravitational constant G).
(Fundamental Physical Constant, NCI Thesaurus)
Process of using a rotating machine to generate centrifugal force to separate substances of different densities, remove moisture, or simulate gravitational effects.
(Centrifugation, NCI Thesaurus)
Gal is a non-SI, CGS system unit of gravitational acceleration equal to one centimeter per second per second, named after Galileo.
(Gal, NCI Thesaurus)
The signs so far are indirect, mainly its gravitational footprints, but that adds up to a compelling case nonetheless.
(The Super-Earth that Came Home for Dinner, NASA)
The strange orbits of some objects in the farthest reaches of our solar system, hypothesised by some astronomers to be shaped by an unknown ninth planet, can instead be explained by the combined gravitational force of small objects orbiting the Sun beyond Neptune.
(Mystery orbits in outermost reaches of solar system not caused by ‘Planet Nine’, University of Cambridge)
Or maybe it is the other way around – that is, a single comet could be tugged into a curious shape by the strong gravitational pull of a large object like Jupiter or the Sun; after all, comets are rubble piles with weak internal strength as directly witnessed in the fragmentation of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 and the subsequent impacts into Jupiter, 20 years ago this week.
(Rosetta Comet May Be a Contact Binary, NASA)
