Revisiting Isaac Newton’s First Law of Motion: A New Understanding of the Father of Classical Mechanics

2023-10-01 10:05:43
A new reading of Isaac Newton’s writings makes clear what the father of classical mechanics intended in his first law of motion. A diagram from the book “Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy”, by Isaac Newton.Enlarge image Three centuries after the appearance of the English translation of the laws of motion, which were developed by Isaac Newton, a new study came to us revealing an error in the translation of the first law, which remained hidden from eyes and minds all that time. period, so the study sheds new light on what was going through the mind of the pioneer of natural philosophy, who laid the foundations of classical mechanics. The formula for which Newton’s first law of motion is famous is: “A body at rest remains at rest, and a body in motion remains in motion, unless acted upon by some force.” However, this law, which at first glance appears to be an axiom of inertia, has a complex history. The formula in which the law appeared in Newton’s book, which he wrote in Latin in the seventeenth century under the title: “Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica,” can be translated into the following formula: “A body remains in its state as long as it is at rest or moving in a straight line.” forward at a constant speed, [لا يتغير] “Except to the extent that the forces acting on it force it to change its state.” Over the past three centuries, many philosophers of science have interpreted this phrase to describe objects when they are not subjected to any external influence or force, says Daniel Hook, a professor of philosophy at Virginia Tech. In 1965, for example, Brian Ellis, a researcher specializing in the study of Newton, formulated this formula for the law: “Every body that is not subject to the action of any force remains at rest or moves at a constant speed in a straight line.” However, this statement is somewhat mysterious, he said. Hooke, because there is no body in the universe that does not fall under the influence of some external force. So why should a law be established for something that does not exist? In a recent research published in the journal Philosophy of Science, Hooke confirmed that Newton did not intend his first law to refer to that imaginary bodies, not under the influence of external forces. He said that Newton’s use of the two Latin words that correspond to them in Arabic “except by a measure” was not intended to limit the meaning of the law to those bodies, but rather to indicate that motion changes, but this change depends on a certain amount A force falls upon her that forces her to do so. Accordingly, Hooke proposed another formulation of the law, which makes his rule applicable to all bodies, which is: “Every change in the state of a body’s motion is due to forces acting on it.” This difference may seem to be more academic than anything else; Whatever the case, the general theory of relativity, developed by Albert Einstein, emerged to replace Newton’s theories. But Einstein’s work built on Newton’s theories, says Robert Desalle, a historian of the philosophy of physics at Western University in Ontario. Desale says that there are those who rely on wrong interpretations of Newton’s first law to claim that there are fundamental philosophical differences between the theories of Einstein and Newton. Specifically, some have accused the law of falling into the fallacy of circular reasoning; This is because it states that bodies, if they are not subjected to the influence of external forces, move in straight lines, or remain at rest, but how do we know that they are not affected by forces? Yes, because they move in straight lines or stay at rest! “This research makes it easier to see why this view is wrong,” Desale says. Newton did not intend to establish a law about imaginary bodies that are not subject to external forces. Not only that, but his contemporaries did not understand his phrase in this way. “It is most likely that this interpretation was invented later and attached to the law retroactively,” Desalle says. The truth is that Newton’s later writings make it abundantly clear that he intended his first law to refer to all bodies, not those bodies that are not affected by external forces, and which do not exist in the physical world, as George Smith, professor of philosophy at Tufts University and a specialized expert, says. In Newton’s writings. “The whole point of the first law is to infer the existence of force,” Smith says. He says that if we go back to the time in which Newton lived, we would find that it was not taken for granted at all that objects need force to move them. Rather, a mixture of ancient theories became widespread at that time, which claimed that there was an inherent force in the bodies themselves. Aristotle, for example, believed that the celestial bodies were composed of an imaginary form of matter, called “ether,” and that they moved in circles by nature. Smith says that Newton was opposing all these ancient ideas in his writings, explaining that there is no body that is not affected by some external force. This confusion about Newton’s meaning is likely to have persisted because of the English translation, which he made from the Latin by Andrew Mott in 1729, after Newton’s death, using the expression “unless” instead of “except as much.” Hooke says that the difference was not noticeable, but that it made Newton’s statement appear to be describing bodies unaffected by external forces, when it was meant to show why all bodies are affected by external forces. He stated that most people after that “probably did not return to the original Latin text.” Ramon Barthelemy, a researcher specializing in physics education at the University of Utah, believes that the new explanation is more complete. He emphasizes that the words that scientists use to communicate their ideas can have a significant impact on the understanding of those ideas, especially among students. “I find it really heartwarming that people are still talking about this issue,” he says. “It shows that there is still opportunity for discussion…and the more opportunities we can provide for students, to participate and see a different interpretation, it is an exciting way to increase their engagement.” “With physics.”
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