Cartesian Laws of Motion
The motion of these particles and all other objects in nature are subject to the laws of motion Descartes had observed:
- “…each particular part of matter always continues in the same state unless collision with others forces it to change its state.”
- “…when one of these bodies pushes another, it cannot give the 2nd any motion, except by losing as much of its own motion at the same time…”
- “…when a body is moving…each of its parts individually tends always to continue moving along a straight line” (Gaukroger)
Descartes in Principles of Philosophy added to these his laws on elastic collision.
Read more about this topic: The World (Descartes)
Famous quotes containing the words laws and/or motion:
“The chess-board is the world; the pieces are the phenomena of the universe; the rules of the game are what we call the laws of Nature. The player on the other side is hidden from us. We know that his play is always fair, just, and patient. But also we know, to our cost, that he never overlooks a mistake, or makes the smallest allowance for ignorance.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–1895)
“If we shall stand still
In fear our motion will be mocked or carped at,
We should take root here where we sit, or sit
State-statues only.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)