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
be more certainly known, than the quantity of solid matter in it; yet
since there is no reason to suspect that one is not proportional to
the other, we shall hereafter speak without hesitation of the quantity
of matter in bodies, as the measure of the degree of their power of
inactivity.
25. THIS being established, we may now compare the effects of the
same power upon different bodies, as hitherto we have shewn the
effects of different powers upon the same body. And here if we limit
the word motion to the peculiar sense given to it in philosophy, we
may comprehend all that is to be said upon this head under one short
precept; that the same power, to whatever body it is applied, will
always produce the same degree of motion. But here motion does not
signify the degree of celerity or velocity with which a body moves,
in which sense only we have hitherto used it; but it is made use of
particularly in philosophy to signify the force with which a body
moves: as if two bodies A and B being in motion, twice the force
would be required to stop A as to stop B, the motion of A would be
esteemed double the motion of B. In moving bodies, these two things are
carefully to be distinguished; their velocity or celerity, which is
measured by the space they pass through during any determinate portion
of time; and the quantity of their motion, or the force, with which
they will press against any resistance. Which force, when different
bodies move with the same velocity, is proportional to the quantity of
solid matter in the bodies; but if the bodies are equal, this force is
proportional to their respective velocities, and in other cases it is
proportional both to the quantity of solid matter in the body, and also
to its velocity. To instance in two bodies A and B: if A be twice as
great as B, and they have both the same velocity, the motion of A shall
be double the motion of B; and if the bodies be equal, and the velocity
of A be twice that of B, the motion of A shall likewise be double that
of B; but if A be twice as large as B, and move twice as swift, the
motion of A will be four times the motion of B; and lastly, if A be
twice as large as B, and move but half as fast, the degree of their
motion shall be the same.
26. THIS is the particular sense given to the word motion by
philosophers, and in this sense of the word the same power always
produces the same quantity or degree of motion. If the same power act
upon two bodies A and B, the velocities, it shall give to each of them,
shall be so adjusted to the respective bodies, that the same degree
of motion shall be produced in each. If A be twice as great as B, its
velocity shall be half that of B; if A has three times as much solid
matter as B, the velocity of A shall be one third of the velocity of B;
and generally the velocity given to A shall bear the same proportion to
the velocity given to B, as the quantity of solid matter contained in
the body B bears to the quantity of solid matter contained in A.
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