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Newton's cannonball was a
Isaac Newton, London: J. Tonson, J. Osborn, & T. Longman, 1728.''A Treatise of the System of the World''
Isaac Newton, London: printed for F. Fayram, 1728.
An image of the page from ''A Treatise of the System of the World'' showing Newton's diagram of this experiment was included on the
Newton Thought Experiment Simulator
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=DXE9AAAAcAAJ&dq=A%20Treatise%20of%20the%20System%20of%20the%20World&pg=PA6-IA1 Drawing in the 1731 (2nd) edition of 'A Treatise of the System of the World' @ Google books]
Newton's Cannon animation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Newton's Cannonball Isaac Newton Thought experiments in physics Space guns
Newton's cannonball was a thought experiment
A thought experiment is an imaginary scenario that is meant to elucidate or test an argument or theory. It is often an experiment that would be hard, impossible, or unethical to actually perform. It can also be an abstract hypothetical that is ...
Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton () was an English polymath active as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author. Newton was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment that followed ...
used to hypothesize that the force of gravity
In physics, gravity (), also known as gravitation or a gravitational interaction, is a fundamental interaction, a mutual attraction between all massive particles. On Earth, gravity takes a slightly different meaning: the observed force b ...
was universal, and it was the key force for planetary motion
In celestial mechanics, an orbit (also known as orbital revolution) is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an ...
. It appeared in his posthumously published 1728 work ''De mundi systemate'' (also published in English as '' A Treatise of the System of the World'').''De mundi systemate''Isaac Newton, London: J. Tonson, J. Osborn, & T. Longman, 1728.''A Treatise of the System of the World''
Isaac Newton, London: printed for F. Fayram, 1728.
Theory
In this experiment from his book (pp. 5–8), Newton visualizes a stone being projected from the top of a high mountain, and "that there is no air about the earth, or at least that it is endowed with little or no power of resisting". As a gravitational force acts on the projectile, it will follow a different path depending on its initial velocity. If the speed is low, it will simply fall back on Earth. If the speed is theorbital speed
In gravitationally bound systems, the orbital speed of an astronomical body or object (e.g. planet, moon, artificial satellite, spacecraft, or star) is the speed at which it orbits around either the barycenter (the combined center of mass) or ...
at that altitude, it will go on circling around the Earth along a fixed circular orbit "and return to the mountain from which it was projected".
If the speed is higher than the orbital velocity, but not high enough to leave Earth altogether (lower than the escape velocity
In celestial mechanics, escape velocity or escape speed is the minimum speed needed for an object to escape from contact with or orbit of a primary body, assuming:
* Ballistic trajectory – no other forces are acting on the object, such as ...
), it will continue revolving around Earth along an elliptical orbit.
If the speed is very high, it will leave Earth in a parabolic (at exactly escape velocity) or hyperbolic trajectory.
Source
Newton's original plan for ''Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica
(English: ''The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy''), often referred to as simply the (), is a book by Isaac Newton that expounds Newton's laws of motion and his law of universal gravitation. The ''Principia'' is written in Lati ...
'' was that it should consist of two books, the first analyzing basic laws of motion, and the second applying them to the Solar System. In order to include more material on motion in resisting media, the first book was split into two; the succeeding (now third) book, originally written in a more popular style, was rewritten to be more mathematical. However, manuscripts of an earlier draft of this last book survived, and a version of it was published in 1728 as ''De mundi systemate''; an English translation was also published earlier in 1728 under the name ''A Treatise of the System of the World''. The thought experiment occurs near the start of this work.
Other appearances
An image of the page from ''A Treatise of the System of the World'' showing Newton's diagram of this experiment was included on the Voyager Golden Record
The Voyager Golden Records are two identical phonograph records, one of each which were included aboard the two Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977. The records contain sounds and data to reconstruct raster scan images selected to portray the di ...
,Sagan, Carl ''et al.'' (1978) ''Murmurs of Earth: The Voyager Interstellar Record''. New York: Random House. (hardcover), (paperback) as image #111.
See also
* Mass#Newton's cannonball * Space gun *Physics
Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...
Notes
External links
Newton Thought Experiment Simulator
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=DXE9AAAAcAAJ&dq=A%20Treatise%20of%20the%20System%20of%20the%20World&pg=PA6-IA1 Drawing in the 1731 (2nd) edition of 'A Treatise of the System of the World' @ Google books]
Newton's Cannon animation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Newton's Cannonball Isaac Newton Thought experiments in physics Space guns