gravitational radius

Astron.

See Schwarzschild radius.

* * *

▪ astrophysics

also called  Schwarzschild radius 

      the radius below which the gravitational attraction between the particles of a body must cause it to undergo irreversible gravitational collapse. This phenomenon is thought to be the final fate of the more massive stars (see black hole).

      The gravitational radius (R_g) of an object of mass M is given by the following formula, in which G is the universal gravitational constant and c is the speed of light: R_g = 2GM/c².

      For a mass as small as a human being, the gravitational radius is of the order of 10^-23 cm, much smaller than the nucleus of an atom; for a typical star such as the Sun, it is about 3 km (2 miles).

      The gravitational radius is sometimes called the Schwarzschild radius for the German astronomer and physicist Karl Schwarzschild (Schwarzschild, Karl), who investigated the concept in the early 20th century.

* * *