Gravity is one of the four fundamental forces in nature. It is the force that attracts any two objects with mass toward each other. On Earth, gravity pulls everything toward the center of our planet, which is why objects fall down when dropped and why we stay firmly planted on the ground instead of floating away.
Sir Isaac Newton formulated the law of universal gravitation, which states that every particle attracts every other particle with a force proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. This means that more massive objects exert stronger gravitational pull, while objects farther apart experience weaker attraction.
Gravity plays a crucial role in our solar system. The Sun's enormous mass creates a gravitational field that keeps all planets in stable orbits. Similarly, Earth's gravity holds the Moon in orbit around us. This same gravitational force causes ocean tides as the Moon pulls on Earth's water. Without gravity, planets would fly off into space in straight lines instead of following their curved orbital paths.
Albert Einstein's theory of General Relativity completely changed our understanding of gravity. According to Einstein, gravity is not a force pulling objects together, but rather the curvature of spacetime caused by mass and energy. Massive objects like stars and planets warp the fabric of spacetime, and other objects simply follow the curved paths through this warped space, which we perceive as gravitational attraction.