A Blupete Biography Page

Newton's Laws Of Motion, Part 3 to the Life & Works of
Isaac Newton

As already mentioned, Newton's principal work was brought forth in 1687, Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy); it is the first and the greatest work ever written on theoretical physics. In this work, Newton showed how his principle of universal gravitation explained both the motions of heavenly bodies and the falling of bodies on earth. "Every body continues in its state of rest, or of uniform motion in a right line, unless it is compelled to change that state by forces impressed upon it. ... The change of motion is proportional to the motive force impressed; and is made in the direction of the right line in which that force is impressed. ... [and] To every action there is always opposed an equal reaction: or, the mutual actions of two bodies upon each other are always equal, and directed to contrary parts." And there you have it: Newton's Laws of Motion.

Thus, Newton determined that there did exist natural laws. One law was that there did exist an attractive force (gravity); it exists between any two particles of matter. He developed his explanation of this natural law as it relates to light between the years 1664 and 1666. This force described by Newton was thought to be of equal application throughout the universe, here on earth and, out there, among the cosmos; it came to be called "universal gravitation." It is this same force that will haul the ungriped coffee cup crashing to the floor, and keeps the celestial objects in their path.

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Peter Landry
2011 (2019)