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Single Idea 17017

[filed under theme 27. Natural Reality / A. Classical Physics / 1. Mechanics / b. Laws of motion ]

Full Idea

Law 1: Every body perseveres in its state of being at rest or of moving uniformly straight forward, except insofar as it is compelled to change its state by forces impressed.

Gist of Idea

1: Bodies rest, or move in straight lines, unless acted on by forces

Source

Isaac Newton (Principia Mathematica [1687], Axioms)

Book Ref

Newton,Isaac: 'Philosophical Writings' [CUP 2004], p.70


A Reaction

This is the new concept of inertia, which revolutionises the picture. Motion itself, which was a profound puzzle for the Greeks, ceases to be a problem by being axiomatised. It is now acceleration which is the the problem.


The 10 ideas with the same theme [basic principles constraining all movement]:

If something is pushed, it pushes back [Aristotle]
Galileo mathematised movement, and revealed its invariable component - acceleration [Galileo, by Meillassoux]
Descartes said there was conservation of 'quantity of motion' [Descartes, by Papineau]
Newton's Third Law implies the conservation of momentum [Newton, by Papineau]
Inertia rejects the Aristotelian idea of things having natural states, to which they return [Newton, by Alexander,P]
1: Bodies rest, or move in straight lines, unless acted on by forces [Newton]
3: All actions of bodies have an equal and opposite reaction [Newton]
2: Change of motion is proportional to the force [Newton]
Galileo refuted the Aristotelian theory that heavier objects fall faster [Okasha]
In modern physics the first and second laws of motion (unlike the third) fail at extremes [Ingthorsson]