INVERSE SQUARE LAW Definition & Meaning

inverse square law

noun

Physics, Optics.

one of several laws relating two quantities such that one quantity varies inversely as the square of the other, as the law that the illumination produced on a screen by a point source varies inversely as the square of the distance of the screen from the source.

inverse square law

noun

any natural law in which the magnitude of a physical quantity varies inversely with the square of the distance from its source

inverse-square law

The principle in physics that the effect of certain forces on an object varies by the inverse square of the distance between the object and the source of the force. The magnitude of light, sound, and gravity obey this law, as do other quantities. For example, an object placed three feet away from a light source will receive only one ninth ( 1 3 ² , the inverse of 3 squared) as much illumination as an object placed one foot from the light.

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Example Sentences

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Once you measure a Cepheid’s period, you can calculate its distance from how bright it appears using the inverse square law.

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The researchers found that all the unique choices people make—from dropping kids at school to shopping or commuting—obey this inverse square law when considered in aggregate.

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But Newton was a great one for rewriting history in his own favour, and the inverse square law emerged much more gradually than the story suggests.

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Hooke in turn replied to the effect that Newton’s calculation was based on a force of attraction with ‘an aequall power at all Distances from the center...But my supposition is that the Attraction always is in a duplicate proportion to the Distance from the Center Reciprocall’, in other words, an inverse square law.

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Hooke, though, told the other two that he could derive all the laws of planetary motion starting out from the assumption of an inverse square law.

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inversely inversion

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