Gravitational binding energy
Minimum energy to remove a system from a gravitationally bound state
Gravitational binding energy
The gravitational binding energy of a system is the minimum energy which must be added to it in order for the system to cease being in a gravitationally bound state. A gravitationally bound system has a lower (i.e., more negative) gravitational potential energy than the sum of the energies of its parts when these are completely separated—this is what keeps the system aggregated in accordance with the minimum total potential energy principle. The gravitational binding energy can be conceptually different within the theories of Newtonian gravity and Albert Einstein's theory of gravity called General Relativity. In Newtonian gravity, the binding energy can be considered to be the linear sum of the interactions between all pairs of microscopic components of the system, while in General Relativity, this is only approximately true if the gravitational fields are all weak. When stronger fields are present within a system, the binding energy is a nonlinear property of the entire system, and...
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