# For calculating gravitational fields/potentials of two objects, can you calculate for each object individually, then add them together?

For example, say I wanted to calculate the total gravitational field created by a solid sphere inside a hollow and finite cylinder, like in the picture below:

Can I just use the Poisson/Laplace equation to calculate the gravitational field created by the sphere and cylinder separately, and then get the total field by simply adding those together? And would this work for the purposes of calculating both the field and the potential?

So for the above image, would it simply be:

$$\vec{g}_{\text{I}} = \vec{g}^{\text{in}}_{\text{sph}} + \vec{g}^{\text{in}}_{\text{cyl}}$$

$$\vec{g}_{\text{II}} = \vec{g}^{\text{out}}_{\text{sph}} + \vec{g}^{\text{in}}_{\text{cyl}}$$

$$\vec{g}_{\text{III}} = \vec{g}^{\text{out}}_{\text{sph}} + \vec{g}^{\text{out}}_{\text{cyl}}$$

• Yes, you can....
– user65081
Sep 19 '21 at 18:11
• @Wolphramjonny Ok thanks! Sep 19 '21 at 18:15