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Virial theorem

The virial theorem states that the total kinetic energy of the objects in a spherical, self-gravitating, stable assembly is equal to negative 1/2 times the total gravitational potential energy, if the objects can be assumed to have equal masses.

A mathematical analysis of the virial theorem can be found at http://astrosun.tn.cornell.edu/courses/astro201/vt.htm

wikipedia.org dumped 2003-03-17 with terodump