What two things does gravitational potential energy depend on?

1 Answer
Dec 2, 2015

Mass of the object and the distance between 2 objects of interest.

Explanation:

We have the equation

#E_"gravity"=-GMm/r#
#G# is the universal gravitational constant.
#M# is the mass of the object that provides the gravitational field.
#m# is the test object.
#r# is the distance between object with mass #M# and the location of your object with mass #m#.

From the equation, potential energy is proportional to #M# and inversely proportional to #r#.

It does not depend on #G# because the universal gravitational constant is well, constant. May have a different value in another universe though.