what is the technical difference between "Gravity" and "Gravitation"?


They are often used interchangably, but gravitation often refers to the theory or concept of gravity in general, and is more often than not used in its adjectival form gravitational. Gravity often refers the gravitational field itself (a vector quantity or its magnitude). For example, being on earth, you are subject to the force of gravity. Your weight is a gravitational effect. Also, gravity tends to be the term of choice in Newton's (field) theory of gravity. Gravitation tends to be the term of choice in general relativity, in which there is no gravity field, per se.

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