A View of Sir Isaac Newton's PhilosophyPemberton, Henry
Science
A View of Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophy
Pemberton, Henry
Newton, Isaac, 1642-1727. Principia
32. THESE are the changes, which the nodes and the inclination of the
moon’s orbit undergo, when the nodes are in the quarters; but when the
nodes by their motion, and the motion of the sun together, come to
be situated between the quarter and conjunction or opposition, their
motion and the change made in the inclination of the orbit are somewhat
different.
33. LET A G C H (in fig. 103.) be a circle described in the plane of
the earth’s motion, having the earth in T for its center. Let the
point opposite to the sun be A, and the point G a fourth part of the
circle distant from A. Let the nodes of the moon’s orbit be situated
in the line B T D, and B the node, falling between A, the place where
the moon would be in the full, and G the place where the moon would
be in the quarter. Suppose B E D F to be the plane, in which the moon
essays to move, when it proceeds from the point B. Because the moon
in B is more distant from the sun than the earth, it shall be less
attracted by the sun, and shall not descend towards the sun so fast
as the earth: consequently it shall quit the plane B E D F, which we
suppose to accompany the earth, and describe the line B I K convex
thereto, till such time as it comes to the point K, where it will be in
the quarter: but from thenceforth being more attracted than the earth,
the moon shall change its course, and the following part of the path
it describes shall be concave to the plane B E D or B G D, and shall
continue concave to the plane B G D, till it crosses that plane in L,
just as in the preceding case. Now I say, while the moon is passing
from B to K, the nodes, contrary to what was found in the foregoing
case, will proceed forward, or move the same way with the moon[191];
and at the same time the inclination of the orbit will increase[192].
[Illustration]
34. WHEN the moon is in the point I, let the plane M I N pass through
the earth T, and touch the path of the moon in I, cutting the plane of
the earth’s motion, in the line M T N, and the plane B E D in the line
T O. Because the line B I K is convex to the plane B E D, which touches
it in B, the plane N I M must cross the plane D E B, before it meets
the plane C G B; and therefore the point M will fall from B towards G,
and the node of the moon’s orbit being translated from B to M is moved
forward.
35. I SAY farther, the angle under O M G, which the plane M O N makes
with the plane B G C, is greater than the angle under O B G, which
the plane B O D makes with the same. This appears from what has been
already explained; because the arches B O, O M are each less than the
quarter of a circle, and therefore taken both together are less than a
semicircle.
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