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It is often instructive to examine how scientific ideas develop over time. If you are interested, explore how Newton formulated the laws of motion by reading excerpts from his original work, the Principia. Both the original text and commentaries are available online.
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Read short, translated excerpts of Newton's Principia along with a modern commentary. Notice how he built on Galileo's thought experiments and stated the laws of motion formally. Write a brief note on how the original wording compares with the way the laws are taught today, and how scientific ideas are refined over time.
📚 Ready to Go Beyond
- Newton's laws describe motion across an enormous range of scales, from everyday objects to planets and stars.
- They need changing only very close to massive objects, at extremely high speeds near the speed of light, and at very small (atomic) scales.
💭 The Quest Continues …
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In the real world, friction is always present whenever surfaces are in contact. How can scientists reduce it?
They use lubricants, smooth coatings or surface texturing, streamline the shapes of objects, and use magnetic levitation to keep surfaces from touching at all.
