M A T T E R A N D M O T IO N

B Y THE L A TE
" C L ER K
. M AX WE L L
MA . .
,F R SS L . . . . E .

H O N O R ARY F ELL O W R I IT O LL OF T N Y C E GE ,
AN D P R OF E SS O R OF

I
E X P E R ME N L H S I S H NI V S I
TA P Y C IN T E U ER TY OF CA M B R D G E I

RE PR I N T E D W I T H N O T E S AN D APP E N D I C E S
: BY

SI R " O S E P H LA RMO R M P , . .

FE LL O W OF S T " S LL OHN

CO EG E , AND

L U CA S I A N P R SS R M A T H M ATI S
O FE O OF E C

LONDON :
S O CI E T Y FO R P R OM O T I N G
CHRISTIAN K N O W L EDG E
N EW YO RK : T HE MA C M I LLAN CO .

1 9 2 0
 P RE FA C E ( 1 8 7 7 )

PH YSI CAL S CI EN CE which up to the end o f the eighteenth

,

century had been fully occupied in formi ng a conception

of natural p henomena as the result of forces acting
between o n e body and another has now fairly entered
,

on the next stage o f p o g es s that in w hi ch the energy

r r

o f a material syste m is conceived as determined by the

conguration and motion of that system and in w hi ch ,

the ideas of conguration motion and force are

, ,

generalised to the utm ost extent warranted by their

physical de ni tions .

To become acquainted with these fundamental ideas ,

to examine them under all their aspects and habi tually

,

to guide the current of thought along the channels of

strict dynamical reasoning must be the foundation of
,

the training of the student of Physical S cience .

The following statement o f the fundamental doctrines

of M atter and M otion is therefore to be regarded as
an introduction to the study o f Physical S cience in
general .
 N OTE

IN this reprint of Prof Clerk M axwell s classical

.

tractate on the principles of dynam ics the changes have ,

b een conned strictly to typograp h ical and a few verbal

improvements After trial the conclusion has been
.
,

reached that any additions to the text would alter the

avour of the work which would then no longer be
,

characteristic of its author Accordingly only brief

.

footnotes have been introduced : and the few original

footnotes have been distinguished from them by
Arabic numeral references instead o f asterisks and other
marks A new index has been prepared
. .

A general exposition f t his kind cannot be expected

o ,

and doubtless was not intended to come into use as a ,

working textbook : for that purpose methods of syste

matic calculation must be prominent But as a reasoned .

conspectus of the N ewtonian dynamics generaliz ing ,

gradually from simple particles of matter to physical

systems whi ch are beyond complete analysis drawn ,

up by one of the masters f the science with many

o ,

interesting side lights it must retain its power of sug

-

gestion even though parts o f the vector exposition may

now seem somewhat abstract The few critical footnotes
.

and references to Appendices that have been added may

help to promote this feature of suggestion and stimulus .

The treatment of the fundamental principles o f

dynam ics has however b een enlarged o n the author s

own lines by the inclusion o f the Chapter O n the

E q uations of M otion f a Connected S ystem from
o

vol ii o f E l ctricity a d M agn ti m Fo r permission to

. e n e s .

make use o f this chapter the thanks of the publishers

are due to the Clarendo n Press of the U niversi ty of
O xford .
 N O TE
With the same end in view tw o have
A pe n dices
been added by th e editor O ne of them treats the
.

P rinciple o f Relativi ty of motion which h as rec ntly

,
e
become very pro m inent in wider p hysical co n nexi ons ,

on ra t her di fferent lines from those i n the text Th e o ther

.

aims at development of the wider aspects of the P rin

ciple of L east Action whi ch has bee n ass e tin g its
, r i

pos tion more and more as the es sential principle of con

n

n e xio n between the various domai ns of Theo retica l

Physics .

These additions are of cou rse much more advan ced

than the rest of the book : but the y will serve to c om ple te
it by presenting the analytical side of dyna mica l sc ience ,

on which it justly aspires to be th e de f nite foundation

i

for all N atural P hilosoph y .

The editor des ires to express his acknowledgment

to the Cambridge U niversity Press an d espe cia lly t o
,

M r J B Peace for assistance an d attention

. .
,
 B I O G RAP HI C A L N O TE

JAMES CLERK M AX WE LL was born in Edinburgh in 1 8 3 1

the only son of John Clerk M axwell o f G le lair near ,
n ,

D albe ttie a family property in south west S cotland to

a ,
-

w hi ch the son succeeded Af ter an early education at

.

home and at the U niversity of Edinburgh he pro

, ,

c e e de d to Cambridge in 1 8 5 0 rst to P eterhouse , ,

migrating afterwards to Trinity College In the .

M athematical Tripos o f 8 5 4 the S enior W rangler was

1 ,

E J Routh afterwards a mathematical teacher and

. .
,

investigator o f the highest distinction and Clerk M ax ,

well was second : they were placed as equal soon after

in the Smi th s P riz e Examination

.

He was professor o f N atural P hilosophy at Aberdeen

from 1 8 5 6 to 1 8 60 in King s Coll ege L ondon from
,

1 8 6 0 to 1 8 6 5 and then retired t

, G len lair for s ix years
o ,

during whi ch the teeming ideas o f his mind doubtless

matured and fell into more systematic forms He was .

persuaded to return into residence at C ambridge in

1 87 1 to undertake the task of organ iz ing the new
,

Cavendish L aboratory But after a time his health

.

broke and he died in 1 8 7 9 at the age o f 4 8 years

, .

His scientic reputation during his lifetime was

upheld mainly by British mathematical physicists ,

especially by the Cambridge school But from the time .

that Helmholt took up the study f his theo y o f

z o r

electric action and light in 1 8 7 0 and discussed it in ,

numerous powerful memoirs the attention given abroad

,

to his work gradually increased until as in England it ,

became the dominating force i physical sci ence n .

N owadays by universal consent his ideas as the ,

mathematical nterpreter and continuator o f F araday

i ,

ra nk as the greatest advance o ur understanding f in o

the laws o f the physical universe that has appeared

x BI O G RAP HI C AL N O TE
sin ce the time of N ewton As with Faraday his pro
.
,

found investigations into na ture were concomi tant with

deep religious reverence for na ture s cause S ee th e
.

Li e by L Campbell and W Garne tt ( M acmillan

. .
,

T e treatise o n E l tri ity nd M g tism and the

ec c a a ne

Th eo ry of Hea t contain an importa nt pa rt of his work .

His S cienti c Papers were republished by the Cam

b ridge U niversity Press in two large memorial volumes .

There are many impor tant let t ers from h im in the

M emoir nd S ien t c C or r esp dence of S i G org e
a c i on r e

S tokes Camb ridge 1 9 04

, , .

The characteristic portrait here reproduced perhaps ,

for the rst time is from a r te d vis i te photogra ph

,
ca e

taken probabl y du ring his L ondon period .

 C O NTE NT S

CH AP T E R I
I NT R O DU CT IO N
AR T
N tu re f P hysic l Science
.

1 a o a
2 D e ni ti n f M te ri l S ystem
o o a a a

3 D e ni ti n f I ntern l d E xte rn l
o o a an a

4 D e niti n f C n g r ti n
o o o u a o

5 D i g msa ra

6 A M teri l P ticle
a a ar

7 R el ti ve P si t i n f tw M te i l P rticles
a o o o o a r a a
8 V ect rs o

9 System f T h ee P rticles o r a
IO A dditi n f V ect rso o o
1 1 Subt r cti n f a V ect r fr m n the r
o o on e o o a o
12 Origi n f V ect rs o o
1 3 R el ti ve P siti n f T w Systems
a o o o o
14 Th ree D t f the C mp ris n f T w Systems
a a or o a o o o
15 O the I de
n f Sp ce a o a
16 E rr r f D esc rt es
o o a
1 7 O the I de
n f Time a o
I 8 A bs lute Sp ce
o a
1 9 St tement f the G ene r l M xim f P h ysic l Science
a o a a o a

CH AP T ER I I
ON M O T I ON

D e ni ti n f D ispl cement
o o a
D i gr m f D ispl cement
a a o a
R el tive D ispl cement
a a
U ni f r m D ispl cement
o a
O M ti n
n o o
O the C ntinuity f M ti n
n o o o o
O C nst nt V l ity
n o a e oc
O the M e su rement f V el city w h en V ri ble
n a o o a a

D i g m f V el cities
Pr pe rties f the D i gr
a ra o o
o m f V el c ties
o a a o o i

M e ning f the P h r se A t R est

a o a
O Ch nge f V el city
n a o o
O A ccele r ti n
n a o
O the R te f A ccele r ti o
n an o a
D i g r m f A cceler ti ns
a a o a o
A cceler ti n R el tive Te rm
a o a a
xii C O N TE N T S

CH APT E R I I I
ON FO R CE
AR T .

K inem tics d Kineti cs

a an
M u tu l A cti n be tween T w B o d ies St es s
a o o -
r
E xte rn l F r ce a o
D iff e rent A spects f th s me Ph en men n o e a o o
N ewt n La ws f M ti n
o

5 o o o
The F i rst L w f M ti n a o o o
O t h e E q u ili b riu m f F r ces
n o o
D e niti n f E qu l Times
o o a
T h e Sec nd La w f M ti n
o o o o
D e niti n f E qu l M sses d f Eq u l F orm
o o a a an o a
Me su rement f M ss
a o a
N ume ric l Me su rement f F rce
a a o o
Simulta ne us A cti n f F rces B ody
.

o o o o on a
O n I mpulse
R el ti n between F rce nd M ss
a o o a a
O M mentu m
n o
Sta tement f th e Sec nd L w f M ti n i T ins o f
o o a o o o n er

I mpulse d M men tu m an o
A dditi n o f F rceso o

T h e T h i rd L w f M ti n a o o o
A cti n a d R e cti n t h e P rti al A spects o f a Str ess
o n a o a re a
A tt r cti n d R epulsi n
a o an o
T h e T hird L w T rue f A cti n t a D ista nce
a o o a
N ewt n s Pr f t E xpe riment l
o
'
oo no a

CH AP T E R IV

O N THE P RO P E R T I E S OF T HE C ENT RE OF M AS S
OF A M A TE R IA L S Y S TEM

De niti n f M ss Vect r
o o a a -
o
Cent re f M s f T w P rticles
o a s o o a
Cen tre f M ss f System o a o a
M ment m represented t h e R te i C h nge f
o u as a o a o a.
M ss V ect r
a o
E t f E xte rn a
ec l F rces th M ti n f th e Cent e
o o on e o o o r
of M ss a
T h e M ti n f th Centre f M ss f S tem i t
o

o o o e o a o a s no
a t d b y t h e M u tu l A cti n
ec e f the rts f t h e a o o a o
Sy tem s
F irst d Sec n d L ws f M ti n
an o a o o o
M et h d f t re ti ng Sy tems f M lecules
o o a s o o
 C O N TE N T S xiii
ART P AGE
By the I nt r ducti n f the I d e f M ss we p a ss f r m
.

67 o o o a o a o
P int Vect rs P int D ispl cements Vel citi es
o -
o o a o
T t l A ccele rati ns f A ccele r ti n t
, , ,

o a d R tes o an a o a o o
M ss V ect rs M ss D ispl cements M ment I m
, ,

a -
o a a o a,
pulses d _M vi ng F rces
, ,

an o o
D e niti n f M ss Are
,

68 o o a a -
a
69 A ngu l r M men tu m
a o

70 M ment f F r ce b ut P int
o o a o a o a o

71 C n se rv ti n f A ngul r M mentum
o a o o a o

CH APT E R V

ON W O RK AN D E NER GY
72 D e ni ti ns o

73 Principle f C nse rv ti n f E ne rgy

o o a o o

74 Gener l St tement f the Principle f t h e C nse rv ati n

a a o o o o
o f E ne rgy
75 M e su rement f W rk
a o o

76 P tenti l E nergy
o a

77 Ki netic E ne rgy
78 O blique F rces o

79 K inetic E ne rgy f Tw P rti cles re ferre d to theiro o a

Cent re f M ss o a
Kineti c E ne rgy f M te i l System re f e rred to its o a a r a

Cent e f M ss r o a
A v il ble Kinetic E ne rgy
a a
P tentia l E nergy
o

E l sti city
a
A cti n t D ist nce
The ry f P tenti l E ne rgy m re c o m
o a a a . .

o o o plic te d t h n a o a a
t h t f Kinetic E ne rgy
a o
A pplic ti n f t h e M e t h d f E n e rgyt t h e C al cu l ti o n
.

a o o o o o a
f F r ces
o o
Speci c ti n f th [M de f A cti n ] f F rces
a o o e o o o o o
A ppl ic ti n t System in M ti o n
a o o a o

A pplic ti n of the M eth d f E nergy t the I nvest g tion

a o
i
o o o a
f R e l B dies
o a o
V i bles w hi c h the E ne rgy d epen d s
ar a on
E ne rgy Te rms f the V ri bles
in o a a
Th e ry f H e t
o o a
He t a F rm f E nergy
a o o
E ne rgy M e su red He t a as a
Scienti c W rk t be d ne o o o
H ist y f the D ctri ne f E ne rgy
or o o o

97 O t h e D i
n t F rms o f E ne rgy
e re n o
xiv C O N TE N T S

CH AP T ER V I
RE C AP I T U L A T IO N
AR T
9 8 R et r sp ct f Ab st r ct D yn mics
.

o e o a a

9 9 K inem tics a
F rce
1 00 o
101 Stress
102 R el tivity f D y n mic l K
a n wledge o a a o
10 3 R el tivity f F rce
a o o
10 4 R t ti n o a o

5 N ewt n D ete rmi ti n Of t h e A bs lute V el city f

'
10 o 5 na o o o o
R t ti n o a o
6 F u c ult s P endulu m

10 o a
10 7 M tte r d E ne rgy
a an

10 8 Test f M te i l Su b st n ce
o a a r a a
109 E ne rgy t c p ble f I denti c ti n
no a a o a o

1 10 A bs lute V lue f t h e E ne rgy f B d y u k w

o a o o a o n n o n
1 1 1L tent E ne rgy
a
1 12 A C mplete D iscussi on f E nergy w uld i i l d t h e
o o o rc u e
w h le f P h ysic l Science
o o a

CH APT E R V I I
T HE P E N DU L U M AN D G RA V I TY

O U ni f r m M ti n in
n o Ci rcle o o a
Cen t if g l F r ce
r u a o
P e ri dic T ime
o
O S mple H rm nic V ib r ti ns
n i a o a o
O the F rce cting
n t h e Vi br ting B od y
o a on a
I s c h r n us V ib r ti ns
o o o a o
P tenti l E ne rgy f the Vibr ting B d y
o a o a o
The Simple P en d ulu m
A R igid P en d ulu m
I nve rsi n f t h e P endulu m
o o
I llustr ti n f K te r s P endulum
a o o a

D ete rmin ti n f t h e I ntensi ty f G r vity

a o o o a
M eth d f O bse rv ti n
o o a o
E sti m ti n f E rr r
a o o o

CH APT ER V I I I
U N I V E RS A L G RA V I T A T I O N
1 27 N ewt n s M eth d
o

o
K eple r s L ws
'
1 28 a
1 29 A ngu l r V el city
a o
1 30 M ti n b ut t h e Centre f M s
o o a o o a s
 C O N TE N T S xv
AR T
T h e Orbit
.

1 31
1 32 The H d g ph
o o ra

133 K eple r S Sec nd L w

o a

134 o F rce on P l neta a

1 35 I nte rp ret ti n f K epler s Thi rd L w

a o o

a
I 3 6 L aw o f G r vi t ti n
a a o

1 37 A mended F rm f K epler s T h i d L w
o o

r a

138 P tenti l E nergy due t G r vit ti n

o a o a a o
I 39 Ki netic E nergy f the System o

1 40 P tenti l E nerg y f the System

o a o

141 The M n is H e vy B dy
oo a a o

1 42 C vendish E xpe ri ment

a

3

1 43 The T rsi n B l nce

o o a a

M eth d f the E xperi ment

.

1 44 o o
1 45 U ni ve s l G r vi t ti n
r a a a o

1 46 C use f G r vit ti n
a o a a o

1 47 A pplic ti n f N ewt n S Meth d f I nvestigati n

a o o o

o o o
1 48 M eth ds f M lecul r I nvesti g ti ns
o o o a a o

1 49 I mp rt nce f G ene r l
o a d E lement ry P pe rties
o a an a ro

[ CH APT E R I X ]

ON T HE E Q U A T I ON S OF M O T I O N O F A CO N
N E CT E D S Y S T E M

ND IX I APP E
T HE RE L A T I V I T Y O F T HE F O R CE S O F N A T U RE 13 7

ND IX I I APP E

THE P R I N CI P L E O F L EA S T A CT I O N

IN D EX

P rt it
o ra of Pr f C L R MA
o . E K X WE LL F roi i tzsp iec e
 M AT T E R AN D M O T I O N

CH AP TER I
IN T R O DU CT I O N
1 . N A T U RE
OF PH YS I CAL SC I EN CE
P H YS I C AL S C I E N CE is that department o f knowledge
which relates to the order of nature in other words , or,

to the regular succession o f events .

The name o f physical science however is often , ,

applied in a more or less restricted manner to those

branches f science in which the phenomena considered
o

are of the simplest and most abstract kind excluding ,

the consideration o f the more complex phenomena such ,

as those observed in living beings .

The simplest case f all is t hat in which an event

o

o r phenomenon can be described as a change in the

arrangement of certain bodies Thus the motion of the.

moon may be described by stating the changes in her

position relative to the earth in the order in which they
follow one another .

I n other cases we may know that some Change o f

arrangement has taken place but we may not be able
,

to ascertain what that change is .

Thus when water free es we know that the molecules

z

or smallest parts o f the substance must be arranged

di fferently in ice and in water We also know that this
.

arrangement in ice must have a certain kind of sym

metry because the ice is in the form o f symmetrical
,

crystals but we have as yet no precise knowledge f

, o

the actual arrangement o f the molecules in ice Bu t .

whenever we can completely describe the change of

I
2 I N T R O D U CTI O N [ c a

arrangement we have a knowledge pe rfect so far as it ,

extends f what has t aken place though we may s till

, o ,

have t o learn the necessary condi t ions under which

a similar event will always take place .

Hence t he rs t part f physical science relates to the O

rela t ive position and motion o f bodies .

2 D EF I N ITI ON O F A M A T ERI AL S YS T E M
.

I n all scienti c procedure we begin by m rking out a a

certain region o subject as the eld of u inves tiga

r o r

t ions To t his we must conne u atten t ion leavin g

. o r ,

the rest o f the universe out o f accoun t t ill we have

completed the inves t igation in which we are engaged .

I n physical science therefore the rst s t ep is to de ne

, ,

clearly the m ate rial system which we m ake the subject

of our statements This system may be o f any degree
.

of complexity It may be a single ma t erial part icle a

.
,

body o f nite si z e any number of such bodies and

, or ,

it may even be extended so as to include the whole

m te i l universe
a r a .

3 D E F I N ITI ON OF IN T ERNAL AN D E X T ERNAL

.

All relations o r actions between one part of t hi s sys

tem and another are called Internal relations o actions r .

Those be tween the whole any p art o f th e sys t em or

and bodies not included in the sys t em are called Exter

nal rela t ions o r actions These we study only so far as .

they affect the system itself leaving t heir e ff ec t on ,

e xte n l bodies out o f consideration

r a Relations and .

actions between bodies not included n the sys t em are i

to be left out of considera t ion We cannot nves tigate . i

them except by making u system include these o ther o r

bodies .

4 D EF I N ITI ON OF CONF IG URA TI ON

.

When a m at i l system is considered with res pect

er a

to the relative positi n of its parts th e assembla e of o ,

relative positions is called the Con guration 0 th e

system .
4 I N TR O D U CTI O N [ CH .

7 RELATI VE POS ITI ON OF Two M A T ERI AL PARTIC L ES

.

The diagram of two material particles consists of two

points as for instance A and B
, , , .

The position of B relative t A is indicated by th e o

direc t ion and length of the straigh t line AB dra wn

from A t B I f you start from A and travel in the
o .

direction indicated by the line AB and for a dis tan c e

e q ual to the length of tha t line you w ill get to B ,
.

This direction and distance may be indi cated equally

we ll by any other line such as b which is parall el , a ,

and equal to AB The position of A with respec t t

. o

B is indicated by the direction and leng t h of the l ine

B A drawn fro m B to A o r the line b
, equal an d , a ,

parallel to B A .

I t is evident that B A AB .

I n naming a line by the let t ers at its extremiti es ,

the order o f the letters is always that in which the line

is to be dra wn .

8 VEC T O RS .

The expression AB in geometry is merely th , , e

name f a line Here it indica t es t he opera tion by

o .

which the line is drawn that f car ryin g a tracing ,

o

point in a certain direction for a certa n d s t nce As i i a .

indicating an operation AB is called V ect r an d ,

3 o ,

the opera t ion is completely de ned by t he d rec t on i i

and dista nce f the transference The start ng point

.

o . i ,

which is called the O rigin of t he vec t or may be any ,

where .

T O dene a nite straight line we must sta te its

origin as well as its direction and length Al l vecto rs .
,

however are regard ed as e q ual wh i ch are p arallel ( and

,

drawn towards t he same parts ) and of t he same magni

tude .

An y quan tity such for instance as a vel o ci ty or a

, , ,
I ] E CT O R S 5 V

force which has a denite direction and a de nite

"
,

magnitude may be trea t ed as a vector and may ,

be indicated in a diagram by a straigh t line whose

direction is parallel to the vector and whose length ,

represents according to a determinate scale t he mag

, ,

ni tude o f the vector .

9 S YS T E M OF T H REE PA RTI C L ES
.

L et us next consider a system f three particles o .

Its conguration is represented by a diagram O f

three points A B C , , , .

The position f B with respect to o

A is indicated by the vector AB ,

and that o f C with respect to B by

the vector B C .

It is mani fest that from these data F g , l . 1 .

when A is known we can nd B and ,

then C so that the conguration o f the three points is

,

completely determined
,

The position of C with respect to A is indicated by

the vector A C and by the last remark the value f A C
, o

must be deducible from

those o f AB and B C .

The result of the operation A C is t o carry the

tracing point from A to C But the result is the same .

i f the tracing point is carried rst from A to B and

then from B to C and this is the sum of the operations
,

AB BC .

10 ADD ITI ON OF VE CT O RS .

Hence the rule f the addition f vectors may be or o

stated thus F rom any point as origin draw t he suc

c s ive vectors in series so that each vector begins at
e s ,

the end of the preceding one The straight line from .

the origin to the extremity o f the series represents the

vector which is the sum o f the vectors .

A f rce is m re c mpletely speci ed

o o vect r l c lised in
o as a o o a
its l ne f cti n c lled by Cli ff rd r t r m re ve r it is nly
i o a o a o a o o ; o o o
when the b dy which it cts is tre ted rig d th t the p int
,

o on a a as i a o
of a pplic ti n is inessenti l
a o a .
6 I N TR O D U CTI O N [C H .

Th e or der o
f for if we write
a dditio n is indzeren t
'

B C AB the operation indicated may be performed

by drawing AD parallel and equal t o B C and th en ,

joining DC which by Euclid I 3 3 is parallel and

, , , .
,

equal to AB so th t by these two opera t ions we arrive

,
a

at t he point C in whichever order we perform them .

The same is true fo any number f vec tors take r O ,

them in what order we please .

II . S U B T RA C TI ON
OF O N E VECT O R F ROM ANO TH ER
To express the posi t ion f C with respect to B in o

terms o f the positions f B and C with respec t to A o ,

we O bserve t hat we can get from B to C ei ther by

passing along the straight line B C or by passing from
B to A and then from A to C Hence .

BC B A AC
A C B A since the order of addi t ion is ind iff erent
AC AB since AB is equal and opposite t o B A .

O r the vector B C which expresses the position o f C

,

with respect to B is found by sub t racting th e vec t or of

,

B from the vector O f C these vectors being d rawn to ,

B and C respectively from any common or gin A i .

O RIG I N OF VECT O RS
12 .

The positions of any number of particles belonging

to a material system may be dened by means of th e

vectors drawn to each of these par ticles from some one

point This point is called the origin of t he vectors
.
,

o r, m ore briey the O rigin , .

This system f vec t ors deter mines th

o gura e con

t ion f the whole system ; for if we wish to k ow

o n

the positi n of any point B with respect to any other

o

point A it may be found from the vectors 0 A and OB

,

by the e q uati n o

AB = O B 0A .
I] R E LATI VE
O S ITI O N 7 P

W may hoose any point whatever for the origin

e C ,

and there is for the present no reason why we Should

Choose point rather than another The c gu
on e . on ra

tion f the system that is to say the position f its

o , o

parts with resp ect to each other remains the same ,

whatever point be chosen as origin M any inquiries .

,

however are Simplied by a proper selection f the

, o

origin .

3 R ELA TI V E P OS ITI ON OF T wo S YS T E MS
1 .

If the congurations f tw di fferent systems are o o

known each system having its w

, o n

origin and i f we then wish t include P o

,

bo t h systems in a larger system ,

having say the same origin as the

, ,

rst f the two systems we must

o
0 '
,
F g
ascertain the position f the origin f o o
2 .

the second sys t em with resp ect to that f the rst and o ,

we must be bl to draw lines in the second system

a e

parallel to those in the rst .

Then by Ar ticle 9 the position f a point P f the O o

second system with respect t the rs t origi 0 is

, o n , ,

represented by the sum o f the vector O P f that point

o

with respect t the second origin O and the vector 00

o ,

O f the second origin O with respect to the rst 0

,
'
, , .

T H RE E D A T A FO R T HE COMPARISON OF
14 .

T wo S YS T E MS
We have an instance O f this formation o f a large
system o ut of two o r more smaller systems when two ,

neighbouring nations having each surveyed and ,

mapped its w n terri t ory agree to connect their sur

o ,

veys so as to include both countries in one system .

F o this purpose three things are necessary

r .

I st A comparison o f the origin selected by the one

.

country with that selected by the other .

2n d A comparison of the directions o f re ference

.

used in the two countries .

8 i NT RO D U CT iO N [ CPL

rd
3 . comp arison of the standards of lengt h used
A
in t he two count i es r .

I I n civilised countries la ti tude always reckoned

. is

from t he e q uator but longitude s reckoned from an ,

i

arbitrary po nt as Greenwich i P ris There fore

,
or a .
,

to make the map f Britain t that of France we o ,

must ascerta in the difference o f longitude between the

O bse vatory o f Greenwich and that of Paris
r .

2
. When a survey has been made without ast o r

n o m ic al instruments the direc t ions o f reference have ,

sometimes been those given by the magnetic compass .

This was I believe the case in the original su veys of

, , r

some of the West India islands The resul ts of this .

survey though giving correctly the loca l con gura t ion

,

O f the island could n t be made to t properly in t o a

,
o

general map of the world till the deviation f the o

magnet from the true north at the time of the su rve y

was ascertained .

3. To compare the su rvey o f France wi t h th at of

Britain the metre which is the F rench s t andar d of

, ,

length must be compared with the yard which is the

, ,

British stand ard of leng t h

.

The yard s dened by Ac t o f Parliament 1 8 and

i

I 9 V ict c 7 2 July
. . which enacts that th e
,

straight line o r distance between the centres of the

transverse lines in the two gold plugs in the bronz e
bar deposited in the O f ce o f the Exche q uer Shall
be the genuine stand ard yard at 6 2 Fahrenhei t

and if lost it shall be replaced by means f its copies

, o .

The metre derives its authority fr m a law f t he o O

F rench R epublic in 1 7 5 It is dened to be the .

distance between the en 8 of a cer t in d of pla t in um a ro

made by Borda t he d being at t he t emperature f ,

ro O

mel ting It has been found b y the measurements

ice .

o f Captain Cl rke tha t the metre a equal to 3 9 3 7 04 3 is

British inches .
1 ] S PACE 9

5 ID E A OF S P1AC E . ON T HE
x

We have now gone through most f the things to be o

attended to with respect to the conguration O f a

m te rial system There remain however a few points
a .
, ,

relating to the metaphysics f the subject which have a o ,

very important bearing on physics .

We have described the method o f combining several

con gurations into o n e system which includes them ll a .

In this way we add to the small region which we can

explore by stretching our limbs the more distant regions
which we can reach by walking o by being carried r .

To these we add those f which we learn by the reports o

of others and those inaccessible regions whose positions

,

we ascertain only by a process O f calculation till at last ,

we recognise that every pl c e has a denite position a

with respect to every other pl c e whether the one a ,

place is accessible from the other or not .

Thus from measurements made on the earth s surface

we deduce the position of the c t e f the earth relative

i

en r o

to known O bjec ts and we calculate the number o f ,

cubic miles n the earth s volume q uite independently

I

o f any hypothesis as to what may exi st at the centre of

the earth or n any other place beneath that thin layer

,
i

o f the crust o f the earth which l n e we can directly a o

explore .

16 E RRO R OF D ES CARTES .

It appears then that the distance between o n e thing

, ,

and another does n o t depend on any material thing

between them as D escartes seems to assert when he
,

says ( Princip Phi l I I 8 ) that if that which is in a

. .
, . 1

hollow vessel were taken out o f it without anything

F ll wing N ewt n s meth d f exp siti n in the P i ipi
o o o

o o o o r nc a,

a S p ce is ssumed d flux f time is ssumed f rming t gether

a a an a o a o o
fr mew rk int which the dyn mic l expl n ti n f phen men
,

a a o o a a a a o O o a
is set I t is p rt f the p r blem f physic l st n my t test this
a o o o a a ro o o
ssumpti n d t determine this fr me wit h incre sing p recisi n
.

a o an o a a o
be reg rded diff e rent subj ect t
, .

I t phil s phic l b sis

s o o a a c an a as a o
which t h e recent discussi ns rel tivity reg rds sp ce d
,

o on a as a a an
time w uld be tt ched See A ppendix I
o a a . .
10 I N TR O D U CTI O N [ OH .

entering to ll its place the sid e s of the vessel having , ,

nothing between them would be in conta ct , .

This assertion is grounded on the dogma O f D es

cartes that the extension in lengt h bread t h and depth

, , ,

which constitute Space is the sole essen t ial proper ty of

matter The nature of mat t er he tells us or of
.
,

body considered generally does not consist in a thing ,

being hard o r heavy or coloured but only in its , , ,

being ex t ended in length bread t h and dep t h ( Princip , , .

,

II . By thus con founding t he properties f ma tt er O

with those f space he arrives at the logical conclusion

o ,

t hat if the mat t er within a vessel could be en tirely

removed the space wi t hin the vessel would no longer
,

exist I n fact he assumes that all space mus t be always

.

full f matter
o .

I have referred to this opinion O f D es c artes in order

to Show the importance o f sound views in elemen t y ar

dyna m ics The prima y property f m a tt er was in

. r o

deed distinctly announced by D escartes in what he

calls the First L aw o f N ature ( Princip I I 3 7)

That every individual thing so far as in it lies per ,

.
,
.

s e ve re in the same state whether of m ti on or of

s ,
o

We shall see when we come to N ew t on s laws f

o

motion that in the words so far as in it lies pro ,

perly understood is to be found t he true prima y ,

r

de nition f matter and the true measure of its q uan ti ty

o ,
.

D escartes however never attained to a full under

, ,

standing o f his own words ( qu tum i se t) and so an n es ,

fell back o his original confusion of mat t er wi t h space

n
space being according to him the only form of , ,

substance and all ex sting things but a ff ec t ions O f space

, i .

This err r 1 runs t hrough every part of D escar t es great

o

work and it forms o n f the ul t imate foundations of

, e o

the system O f S pino z a I shall not at t empt to trace .

it down to more modern times but I would advi s e ,

C mp re t h e i d e f L e st A cti n A ppendix I I
o a a o a o :

1 S me recent f r ms f rel tivity h ve c me b c k t h is id e s

.

o o O a a o a o a .

Cf p 4
. . 1 0.
12 I N TR O D U CTI O N [ C H .

It is als o called D uration Relative app arent and .

, ,

common t ime is dura t ion as es tima t ed by the motion

o f bodies as by days months and y ears These
, , , .

measures f t ime may be regarded as provisional for

O ,

the progres s O f astronomy has taught us to meas ure the

inequality in the lengths of days months and yea rs , , ,

and t hereby to reduce the apparent t ime to a more

uniform scale called M ean S olar Time, .

1 8 . AB SOLU T E S PA C E
Absolute space is conceived as remaining always
similar to itself and immovable The arrangement .

o f the parts o f space can no more be altered than t he

order o f the portions f time To conceive t hem to o .

move from their places is to conceive a place to move

away from itself .

But as there is nothing to distinguish one portion o f

t ime from another except the di ff erent even ts which
occur in them so there is nothing to dis t inguish one
,

part of space from another except its relation to th e

place o f material bodies W e cannot describe the time .

o f an event except by reference to some other event or

the place of a body except by reference to some o ther

body All o u knowledge both of time and p lace is
. r , .

essentially relative When a man has ac q u red the . i

habit Of puttin words together without tr ublin

himself to form t e thoughts which ought to c o es p n g
,
o

rr o

to t hem it is easy for him to frame an antithesis between

,

this rela t ive knowledge and a s called absolu t e know o -

ledge and to point o ut o u ignorance of the absolute

, r

p sition of a point as an instance of the limita tion o f ur

o o

faculties A y one however who will try to ima n e '

the state f a mind conscious f knowing the b fii te

. n , ,

o o a so

positi on of a point will ever after be content wi t h ou r

relative knowledge .

The iti seems t b th t

s on k n wled ge is re l tive b t o e a o ur o a u
fr me f its c h e rent
,

needs d nite sp ce d time

c a an as a a or o ex

p ressi n o .
]
1 GE N E RAL M AX I M 1 3

19 A TE M EN T OF THE G E N ERAL M AX I M OF
. ST
PH YS I CAL S C I E N CE
There is a maxim whi ch is often quoted that The ,

same causes will always produce the s ame e ff ects .

T o make this maxim intel ligible we must dene

what we mean by the same causes and the same e ffects ,

since it is manifest that no event ever happens more

than once so that the causes and e ff ects cannot be
,

the same in a ll respects What is really meant is that .

if the causes di ffer only as regards the absolute time

o r the absolute place at which the event occurs so ,

likewise will the e ff ects .

The following statement w hich is e q uivalent to the ,

above maxim appears to be more denite more ex

, ,

li i l connected with the id as O f space and time and

p c t y e ,

more capable of application to particular cases :

The di ff erence between event and another does on e

not depend on the mere difference o f the times or the

places at which they occur but only o n differences in ,

the nature con guration r motion Of the bodies con

, , o

cerned .

It follows from this that if an event has occurred at ,

a given time and place it is possible fo an event exactly r

Similar to occur at any other time and place .

There is another m xim which must not be con

a

founded with that quoted t t he begi ning o f this a n

article whi ch asserts That like causes produce like

,

effec t s .

This i s only true when small variations in the ini tial

Circumstances produce only small variations in the nal
state Of the system " In a great many physical pheno .

mena this condition is satised ; but there are other

Thi s implies th t it is nly in f st bility subsists th t
a o so ar as a a
p rinciples f n tu r l l w
o be f r mul ted it thus perh ps puts
a a a c an o a a

y p stul te f u ive rs al phys c l d ete r mi n cy

.

a li mit ti n
a o on an o a o n i a a

such L pl ce w credited w it h
as a a as .
14 I N TR O D U CTI O N [ C H 1 .

cases in which a s m all i n itial varia tion may produce a

very great change in the nal state of the system as
when the displacement of the poin ts causes a ,

train to run into another instead of keeping its proper

course

W m y pe rh ps
e a y t h t th e
a bse rv ble reg l ri tie f
sa a o a u a s o
n tu re bel ng t st tisti c l m lecul phen men w hi ch h ve
a o o a a o ar o a a
settled d wn int pe rm nent st ble c nditi n I
o o a af o th o s n so ar as e
we the r m y be d ue t
.

a a u l imited sembl ge f l c l i
o an n as a o o a n
st bilities it m y t b e men ble t ni te sc h eme f l w
a , a no a a o a ll O a at a .
 CH AP TER I I
O N M OT I O N
20 . D EF I N ITI ON OF D I SPLA CE ME N T
WE have already compared t he position o f
di fferent
points O f a system at the same instant of time We have .

next to compare the position f a point at a given instant

o

with i t s posi t ion at a former instant called the Epoch , .

The vector which indicates the nal position o f a

point with respect to its position at the epoch is called
the D isplacement of that point Thus if A is the initial
.
I

and A the nal position o f the point A the line A A is

2 , l 2

the displacement of A and any vector 0a drawn from

,

the origin 0 parallel and equal to A A indicates this dis

1 2
placement .

21 D I A G RAM OF D I SPLA CE ME N T
.

If another point o f the system is displaced from B 1 to

3 the vector b paral
2
o

lel and e qual to B l

indicates the displace
ment o f B .

I n like manner the

displacement o f any
number f points may
o

be represented by vec
tors drawn from the
same origin This
0 .

system o f vectors is
called the D iagram of
D isplacement It is
.

not necessary to draw

actual lines to represent
these vectors it is suffi
g 3
cient to indicate the

points 6 etc at the extremities of the vectors The

a, , .
, .
16 O N M O TI O N [c a
diagram o f displacement may th erefore be regarded s a
consis t ing of a number of points b etc corres pond , a, , .
,

ing wi t h the material par t icles A B etc belongin g , , , .

,

to the system together wi t h a point 0 the position of

, ,

which is arbitrary and which is the ass umed origin of ,

all the vectors .

22 RE LA TI V E D I SPLA C EM EN T .

The line ab in the diagram of displacement e p e r r

sents the displacement of the point B wi th re pe ct s

to A .

Fo if in the diagram of displacement ( g 3 ) we

r .

draw h parallel and equal to B A and in t he S ame

a
l l ,

direction and join kb it is easy to Show that kb is

, ,

equal and p rallel to A B a 2 2

.

Fo the vector kb is the sum f the vecto rs ka

r o , ao ,

and h and A B is the sum of A A A 8 and

o , 2 2 , ,, 1 1,

8 8
1 2 .But of these h is the same as A B is th e a , , , no

same as A A and h is the same as B B and by

2 1 ,
o
l g,
Article 1 0 the order o f summation is indi ff erent so ,

that the vector kb is the same in direction and magni ,

tude as A B N ow h o A B represents the original

, 2 Z . a r
I l

position o f B with respect to A and kb or A 3 , 4 2

represents the nal posi t ion f B with res pect to A o .

Hence b represents the displacement of B wi t h res pec t

a

to A which was to be proved

,
.

I n Article 2 0 we purposely omi t ted t say wheth er o

the origin to which the o iginal con gura ti n was r o

referred and that to which the nal congu ra tion is

,

referred are absolu t ely the same poin t or whether

, , ,

during the displacement of the system t he origin al so ,

is displaced .

We may now for the sake of arg ument suppose that , ,

the origin is absolu t ely xed and that the displace ,

ments represented by a ob etc are th e abs olute dis o , , .

,

placements T O pass from this cas e to tha t i n w h i ch

.
I I] D I SP LAC E M E N T 17

t he origin is displaced we have only to take A one o f ,

the movable points as origin The absolute displace , .

ment o f A being represented by 0 the displacement a,

o f B with respect to A is represented as we have seen , ,

by ab and so on for any other points o f the system

, .

The arrangement o f the points b etc in the dia a, , ,

gram Of displacement s therefore the same whether i ,

we reckon the displacements with respect to a xed

point or a displaced po nt ; the only difference s that i i

we adopt a di ff erent or g n o f vectors in the diagram o f i i

displacement the rule bein g that whatever p oint we

,

take whether xed

, mov ng for the orig n f the or i ,
i o

diagram f conguration we take the corresponding

o ,

point as origin in the diagram f displacement I f we O .

wish to indicate the fact that we are entirely ignorant

o f the absolute displacement in space o f any point o f

the system we may do so by constru cting the diagram

,

o f displacement as a mere system o f points without ,

indicating in any way which of them we take as the

or g n i i .

This diagram of displacement ( without an origin )

will then represent neither more nor less than all we
can ever know about the displacement o f the system .

It consists simply o f a number o f points b etc , a, , 6 , .

,

corresponding to the points A B C etc o f the material , , , ,

sys t em and a vector as b represents the displacement

, , a

o f B with respect to A .

23 U N I FO RM D I SPLA CE M E N T
.
1

When the displacements o f all points o f a material

system with respect to an external point are the same
n direction and magnitude the diagram f displace

i , o

ment is reduced to two points one corresponding to

the ex t ernal point and the other t o each and every point
,

of the displaced system I n t his case the poin t s o f the .

Wh en the simult ne us v lues f q u ntit y f d ff erent

1
a o a O a a or i

b dies pl ces
o orequ l the qu ntit y s id t be if m ly
a are a a is a o un or
distributed in sp ce
,

a .
18 O N M O TI O N [ cm

system are n o t displaced with respect to one another ,

bu t only with respect to the external poin t .

This is the kind o f displacemen t which occu rs when

a body f invariable form moves parallel to itself It
O .

may be called uniform displacement .

24 . ON M O TI ON
When the hange of con guration of a system is
C

considered with respect only to its state at the beginning

and the end of the process Of Change and wi thout ,

reference to the time during which it takes place it is ,

called t he displacement f the system o .

When we turn our attention to the process of change

itself as taking place during a certain t ime and in a
,

continuous manner the Change f conguration is , o

as cribed to the motion of the system .

25 .CON TI NU IT Y OF M O TI ON
ON T HE

When a material par t icle is displaced so as to pass

from o e position t o another it can only do so by
n ,

travelling along some course or path from t he one

position to the other .

At any instant during the motion the part icle wi ll be

found at some n e point o

o f t he pa th and if we se ,

lect any point f the pa th

m
o ,

the pa ticle will pass that r

C D point once at leas t during 1

F ig 4 its m tion o .

Th s what s meant i is i

by saying that the particle describes a continuous path .

The mo t ion f a material par t icle which h as continuous

o

existence in time and space is the type and exemplar

of every form f con t inuity o .

I f t h e p th cuts itsel f
1
a t f rm l p P Q R ( g s o as o o a oo as

the p rticle w ill p ss th p int f inte rsecti n Q tw ice d f

.
, , ,

a a e o o o an i

the p rticle retu rns its w p th

, , ,

a in the p th A B C D it
on o n a as a

m y p s the s me p int 5 t h ree m re times

, , , , ,

a as a o , ,
or o .
20 O TI O N [C HON M .

Thus when we say that at a given instant say one ,

second aft er a body has begun to fall its velocity s 980 , i

centimetres per second we mean that if t he veloci ty of ,

a par t icle were cons t ant and equal to t ha t of the falli n g

body at the given instant it would describe 9 8 0 cen ti ,

metres i a second n .

It is specially important to understa nd what is meant

by the veloci ty or ra t e of motion f a body because th o , e

ideas which are suggested to our minds by co n sidering

the motion f a particle are those which N ewt on made
o

use f in his method of Fluxi

o and t hey lie at the on s
l
,

foundation f t he great extension of exact science which

o

has taken place in modern t imes .

28 D I A G RAM OF V ELOC I T I FS .

I f the veloci ty of each of t he bodies in the system is

consta nt and i f we compare the congura t ions f th
, O e

system at an in t erval o f a unit f t ime t hen the displace O ,

ments being those produced in unit f t ime in bodi s

, O e

moving with consta nt velocities will repre ent t hose , s

velocities according to the method of measu remen t

described in Article 2 6 .

If the velocities d not actually con tinue cons t n t o a

for a u nit of time then we must imagine ano t her sys t em

,

consisting f the same number of bodies and in which

O ,

the velocities are the same as those of the corresponding

bodies f t he sys t em at the given instant but remain
o ,

constant for a unit f time The displacements of th is o .

system represent the velocities of t he actual system at

the given instant .

Ano t her mode f O btaining the diagram o f veloci t ies o

of a system at a given ins t an t is to take a small interval

of time say the th part of t he unit of t ime so th at
, n ,

the middle f t his inte val corresponds t the given

o r o

A cc rding t th e met h d f F luxi ns w h en t h e v lue f

o o o o o a o one
th t f n t h e r the r te f v i ti n f h
,

ua n tity dep nds e on a o a o ar a o o t e

grst qu tit y wit h respect t the sec nd m y be exp essed
a o ,

an o o a r as a
vel city by m gi ning the f rst qu ntity repre ent th d ispl
o i a i a to s e a ce
ment f p rticle w h ile t h e s c nd ws uni f rmly wi th th e tim
,

o a a . e o o o e .
n ] D I AG R AM
E L O CITIE S OF V
2 1

insta nt Take the diagram f displacement corre

. o

s p o di g to this interval and magni fy all its dimensions

n n

71 times The result will be a diagram f the m

. o ean

velocities f the system during the inte val If we ow

o r . n

suppose the number to increase without limit the n

interval will diminish wi t hout limit and the mean ,

velocities will approximate without limit to the actual

velocities at the given instant Finally when becomes .
,
72

innit e t he diagram will represent accurately the velo

cities at the given instant .

29 .PROP ERTI ES OF T HE D I A G RAM OF V E LO C ITI E S ( g 5 ) .

The diagram Of velocities f a system consisting of or

a number o f material particles consists f a number o

o f points each corresponding to one o f the particles

, .

D I A RA G M OF C ON F GU I RA TI ON .

D 9

D I A RA G M OF V L ITI S
E OC E .

F ig 5 . .

The velocity o f any particle B with respect to any

other A is represented in direction and magnitu de by
, ,

the line b in the diagram f velocities drawn from the

a o ,

p i t a corresponding to A to the point 6 corresponding

to g
o , ,

W e may in this way nd by means of the diagram , ,

th erelative veloci ty f any tw particles The diagram

o o .

tells us nothing about the bsolute veloci ty f any a o

point ; it expresses exactly what we can know about

the motion and o more I f we choose to imagine that
n .
22 ON M O TI O N [ cw

oa represents the absolute velocity f A th en th e o ,

absolute velocity o f any o t her par ticle B will be e pre , , r

sented by the vector b drawn from as ori gin to the

o ,
o

point b whi ch corresponds t B

, o .

But as it is impossible to dene the position of a

body except with respect to the position of s me poin t o

o f reference so it is impossible t o dene th e velocity

,

o f a body except with respect to the vel o city of th e

,

point o f reference The phrase absolute veloci ty has

.

as little mea n ing as absolute position I t is be tter .

,

therefore not to distinguish any point in the diagram

,

of velocities as the origin but to regard the diagram as ,

expressing the relations f all the velocities without o

de ning the absolute value of any e O f t hem on .

3 0 . M E AN I N G
OF T HE PH RAS E AT RES T
I t is true that when we say that a body is at rest we
use a form f words which appears to assert something
o

about that body considered in itself and we might ,

imagine t hat the velocity o f ano t her body if rec koned

,

with respec t to a body at rest would be its true and ,

only absolute velocity But t he phrase t res t

. a

means in ordinary lan guage having n velocity with o

respect to that on which the body stands as for ,

instance the surface of t he earth the deck of a ship

,
or .

It cannot be made to mean more than this .

It is therefore unscientic t o distinguish betw een

rest and mo tion as between two di ff erent st tes f a
,
a O

body in itself since it is impossible t o speak f a body

,
o

being at rest in motion except wi t h reference ex

or ,

pressed implied to some o ther body

or ,
.

3 C H AN G E1OF V
.E LO C IT Y
ON
As we have compared the veloci ti e of different s

b dies at th same time so we may compa re th e

o e ,

relative veloci ty f one b dy wi th respect t an other at

o o o

di ff erent times .
n
] ACCE LE RATI O N 23

If b be the diagram f velocities of the system

al l , l , cl , o

Of bodies A B C in its original state and if

, b , , , ( 1 2, 2, 6 2 ,
be the diagram o f velocities in t he n al state of the
system then if we take ,

any point as origin co

and draw m e q ual a

and parallel to a l a z,

e qual and parallel

to b b w y e q ual and
l z,

parallel to and so (5 1 6
2,
o n we shall form a
,

diagram f points o a,

B y etc such that

, , .
,

any line }? in this a

diagram represents in
direction and magni F ig 6 . .

tude the Change of the

velocity f B with respect to A This diagram may be
o .

called the diagram of Total Accelerations .

L ERA TI ON 32 . O N ACCE
The word Acceleration is here used to denote any
change in the veloci ty whether t hat change be an in ,

crease diminution o a Change Of direction Hence

, a ,
r .
,

instead of distinguishing as in ordin ry language ,

a ,

between the acceleration the retardation and the , ,

d e xi n o f the mo t ion f a body we say that th e

e o o ,

acceleration may be in the direc t ion o f motion in the ,

contrary direction o transverse t o t hat direction , r .

As the displ cement o f a sys t em is dened to be the

a

C hange o f the conguration f t he system so the Total o ,

Acceleration f the system is dened to be t he change f

o o

the veloci t ies o f t he system The process f cons t uc t ing . o r

the diagram f total accelerations by a comparison of

o

the initial and nal diagrams Of velocities is the same

24 O N M O TI O N ( cu .

as that by which the diagram of displacement was

constru cted by a comparison of the ini tial and n al
diagrams of con guration .

33RA T E OF ACC EL E RA TI ON
. ON T HE

We have hither t o been considering the t o t l accelera a

tion which takes place during a cer t ain in t e val of r

time I f the rate of acceleration is consta n t it is

.
,

measured by the total acceleration in a uni t of time .

I f the rate f acceleration is variable its value at a

o ,

given instant is measured by t he total accelera tion

in unit o f time f a point wh se acceleration is o o

constant and equal to that f the par t icle at th e given o

ins t ant .

It appears from this denition t hat the me th d f o O

deducing t he rate of acceleration from a knowledge f o

the to t al acceleration in any given t ime s precisely i

analogous to t hat by which the velocity at any inst nt a

is deduced from a knowledge o f t he displacement in

any given time .

The diagram of total accelerations const ucted for an r

inte val f the th part o f the uni t O f t ime and th en

r o n ,

magnied t imes is a diagram O f the mean ra t es of

n ,

acceleration during tha t interval and by taking t he ,

interval smaller and smaller we ultima t ely ar ive a t ,

r

the tru e rate o f accelerati n at the middle o f t hat o

interval .

As rates of accelerati n have t be considered in o o

physical science much more fre q uen t ly than t t l c o a a

cel ti n
e ra t he word accelera t i n has come to be
o s, o

employed in the sense in which we have hi t herto used

the phrase rate o f accelera t ion .

In future theref re when we use the word accele a

, o ,
r

ti n without u lic ti n we mean what we have here

o a a o ,

described as t e ra t e of acceleration .
 n ] ACCE L ER AT IO N 25

34 OF ACCE L E RA TI ONS. D I A GRAM

The diagram of accelerations is a system of points ,

each of which corresponds to o e o f the bodies f the n o

material system and is such that any line t? in the , a

diagram represents the rate Of accelera t ion of the body

B with respect t the body A o .

It may be well to O bserve here that in the diagram

O f conguration we use the capital letters A B C etc , , , , .
,

to indicate the relative position o f the bodies of the

system ; in the diagram f velocities we use the small o

letters b etc to indicate the relative velocities o f

, a, ,
c, .
,

these bodies ; and in the diagram o f accelerations we use

the Greek letters 8 y etc to indicate their relative ,
a, , , , .
,

accelerations .

35 . ACCE L E RA TI ON
A RE LA TI V E TE RM
Acceleration like position and velocity is a relative
, ,

term and cannot be in t erpreted absolutely "

.

If every particle of the material universe within the

reach O f o u means o f O bservation were at a given
r
'

instant to have its velocity altered by compounding

therewith a new velocity the same in magni tude and ,

direction for every such particle all the relative motions ,

O f bodies within the system would go o in a per fectly n

continuous manner and neither astronomers nor ,

physicists though using their instruments all the

,

while would be able to nd ut that anything had

,
o

h appe n e dT .

It is only if the C hange f motion occurs in a di ff erent o

manner in the di ff erent bodies o f the system that any

event capable o f being O bserved takes place .

A n tew rthy c se f rel tivit y is E uler s investig ti n f the

o o a o a

a o o
m ti n f
o o l d b dy
o speci ed W th re fe rence t its w
a So l o as i o O n
successi n f inst nt ne us p sit ns
o o a a o o io

1 This ppe rs t be very d r stic p stul te f rel ti ity

.

'
a a o a a o a o a v :
a univers l imp sed ccele r ti n
a h ve o e ff ect d i g i a a o c an a no ur n ts
nly when ll pplied f rces
o c c u rre n c e o p r p rti n l t m ss a a o a re o o o a o a

A ppendix I
.

S ee .
 CH AP TER I I I
ON F O RCE

36 . KI N E MA TI CS
K I NET I CS AN D

WE have hithe to been considering th moti n f a

r e o o

system in its purely geometrical aspect W have . e

shown how to s tudy and describe t he motion O f such a

system however arbitrary withou t t king into ac c unt
, , a o

any o f the conditions f mo t ion which arise from th e o

mutual action between the bodies .

The theory of motion treated in this way is called

Kinematics When the mutual action between bodi es
.

is taken into acco unt the science of m tion is ca lled ,

o

Kinetics and when special attention is paid to force as

,

the cause of motion it is called D ynamics , .

37 . M U T UAL ACTI ON BOD I ES S T RES S BE T W EEN T wo

The mutual action between two porti ons of ma tter
receives di fferent names according t the aspec t under o

which it is studied and this aspect depends on th e ,

extent O f the material system which forms the subject

of o u r attention .

I f we take into account the whole phen menon of th e o

action between t he t w portions o f mat t er we ca ll it o

S tress This stress according to the mode

.
,which it In

acts may be described as At t raction R epulsion Ten

, , ,

sion Pressure S hearing stress Torsion etc

, , , , .

E X T ERNAL FO RC E
38 .

But if as in Article 2 we con ne our tten tion to

, ,
a

one of t he p rti ns f matter we see as it were onl y

o o o , , ,

one side f t he transac t i n namely tha t which a ff ects

o o ,

the portion f matter under our c nsider tion and we

o o a

call thi s aspect f th phenomenon wi t h reference t o

o e ,

its e ff ect an External Force acting

,
t hat portion o f on
 28 ON F O RCE [ CH .

4 1 T HE F I R T L Aw M TI
. S OF O ON
L I aw r
E ve y body erse veres in its s ta te of est or
.
-
p r
fr
of movi ng un i o mly i n a s t a ig h t lm e , exc e t in so
.

r
fa r as i t i s ma de to ch a ng e th a t s ta te by extern o c es pr .

The experimental argu ment for the tru h of th s t i

law is that in every case in wh ch
,
i nd an al eration
we t
of the state ofmotion a body we can trace his
of , t
alteration to some action bet een that body and ano her
w t ,

that is to say to an external force The exis t ence of

, .

this action is indicated by its e ff ect on the other

body when the motion O f t hat body can be bserved o .

Thus the motion o f a cannon ball is reta rded but ,

this arises from an action between the projectile and

the air which surrounds it whereby the ball experiences ,

a force in the direction O pposite to its relative mo tion ,

while the air pushed forward by an equal force is

, ,

itself set in motion and constitutes wha t is called the ,

wind o f the cannon ball .

But o ur conviction o f the t uth of this law may be r

greatly strengthened by considering wha t is involved in

a denial of it Given a body in motion At a given
. .

instant let it be left to itself and n t acted on by an y

.

force What will happen ? According t N ewt on s

. o
'

law it will persevere in moving uniformly in a s t r ight a

line that is its veloci ty will remain c nstan t b t h in

, ,
o o

direc t ion and magnitude .

I f the veloci ty does not remain constant let us

suppose i t to vary The change O f velocity as we sa w in .
,

Ar t icle 3 must have a deni t e direc t i n and magn i

1 ,
o

tu de By the maxim of Article 1 9 this varia t i n must

. o

be the same whatever be the t ime r place f the o O

experiment The direction f the change of mo tion

. o

must therefore be de t ermined either by t he direction O f

t he motion itself r by some di rection x ed in the , o

b dy
o .

L et us in the rst place suppose the law to be that

, ,

the velocity diminishes a t a ce t ain rate which for the r ,

111 ] I R S T LAW O F M O TI O N
F 29

sake O f the argument we may suppose so Slow that by

no experiments moving bodies could we have
on

detected the di m inution Of velocity in hundreds f O

years .

The velocity referred to in this hypothetical law can

only be the velocity referred to a point absolutely at
rest Fo if it is a relative velocity its direction as
. r

well as its magnitude depends o the velocity of the n

point of reference .

If when referred to a certain point the body appears

, ,

to be moving northward with diminishing velocity we ,

have only to refer it to another poi t moving nor t hward n

with a uni form velocity greater than that f the body o ,

and it will appear to be moving sou t hward with in

creasing velocity .

Hence the hypothetical law is without meaning un ,

less we admit the possibili ty f dening absolute rest O

and absolute ve l city x

o

.

Even if we admit this as a possibility the hypothetical ,

law if found to be true might be interpre t ed n o t as

, , ,

a contradiction of N ewton s law but as evidence of

the resisting action of some medium in space .

To take another case S uppose the law to be that a .

body not acted o by any force ceases at once t o move

, n , .

This is not only contradicted by exp erience but it leads ,

to a denition Of absolute rest as the state which a body

assumes as soon as it is freed from t he ac t ion O f ex
ternal forces .

It may thus be shown that the denial o f N ew t on s

law is in contradiction to the only sys t em Of consis t ent

doctrine about space and time which t he human mind
has been able to form 1
.

A n ethe r might d this B t even in M xwell s ether

a o u a

a an
is l ted b dy l sing energy by r di t n w uld su ff e r ch nge
.

o a o o a a io o no a
o f vel city the reby
o
rgument f this secti n m y be m de m re de n te
.

T Th e a o o a a o i

result f bserv ti n th t the m re is l ted b dy is fr m

.

I t is a o o a o a o o a a o o
the in uence f the r b dies the m re ne rly is its vel cit y
o o o o a o
c nst nt with re ference ssign ble fr me f re fe rence A
,

o a to an a a a o .
3 0 O N F O RCE [ cm

E Q U I L I B RI UM O E FO RCES
4 2 . ON T HE

If a body moves with constant veloci ty in a str aight

line the external forces if any which ac t o n it balance
, , , ,

each other or are in equilibrium , .

Thus if a carriage in a railwa y train mov e s with

constant velocity in a straight line the ext e e forces ,

which act on it such as the traction of the carriage in

front of it pulling it forwards the drag of that behind ,

it the friction o f the rails the resis tance of the ai r

, ,

acting backwards the weight of the carriage acting ,

downwards and the pressure o f the rails ac t ing up

,

wards must exactly balance each other .

Bodies at rest with respect to the su rface of the ea rth

are really in motion and their motion is not consta nt nor ,

in a straight line Hence the forces which act on them .

are not exactly balanced The apparen t weight of bodi es .

is estimated by the upward force required to k e ep them

at rest relatively to the earth The apparent weight is .

m in p r blem f p h ysic l d yn mi cs is t dete rmi ne with i

a o o a a o n
cre sing pp r xim ti n fr me f w h ich th is p i nciple h lds
a a o a o a a or r o

ll systems with the g re test tt in ble p r cisi n A f r me

,

for a a a a a e o a

d time t h us dete r mined h

.
,

o f sp ce a an been c lled ( f te j m e as a a r a s

Th ms n ) fr me f ine rti T h e st tements in the text

o o a a o be a a ca n
rec nst ructed with reg rd t re fe rence f me w h ic h is f m e
.

o a o a ra a ra
o f ine rti But given a f me f ine rti y th e r fr me m ving one ra o a , an o a o
with y uni f r m t r nsl t ry vel city with res ct t it is l
.

an o a a o o o a so
fr me f inerti Thus rst ppr xim ti n l c l pu rp
,

a a o a a a o a o or o a oses
fr me f ine rti is xed with re fe rence t the su r un d ing
.

t o a a o a one o ro

l ndsc pe ; when t h e r nge f phen men is widened t r n me rs

a a a o o a as o o
fr me c nt ining the xis f t h e e rt h s
,

h ve t ch nge t
a o a o a a o a a o a
'

diu rn l r t ti n d i l m g de nite v lue f h length f

a o a o an n vo v a a or t e o

the side re l d y this g n h t be c rrected f the ve ry sl w

,

a a : a ai as o o or o
m vement f the e rth s xis th t is reve led by the P r e si n
o o a
'
a a a ec s o
O f the E q uin xes d S ucho fr me f ine rti rep resents
: an so on a a o a

in p r ctic l essenti ls the N ewt ni n bs lute sp ce d time

.

a a a o a a o a an :
it is the simplest d m st n tu r l sc h eme f m pping an o a a o a an ex ~
tensi n int wh ch dyn mic l phen men
o o i be tt d I f we a a o a ca n e
ssume t h t sp ce is ccupied by uni f rm st tic et h e r t h ug h
.

a a a o a o a a ro
w h se medi ti n in fl uences
o tr nsmitted fr m
a o m t ri l a re a o one a e a
b d y t n t h e r t h e p r pe rti e f th t medium will ff rd uni que
o o a o , o s o a a o
speci c ti n f bs lute s d time h vi g physic l
an n a
p r pe rties well rel ti ns F t i See A p pen d ix I
a o o a o ace an a

o as as a o o ex ens on . .
I I I] E Q U I L IBRI U M 3 I
therefore rather less than the attraction o f the earth ,

and makes a smaller angle with the axis o f the earth ,

so that the combined e ff ect of the supporting force and

the earth s attraction is a force perpendicular to the

earth s axis just su ffi cient to cause the body to keep

to the circular path which it must describe if resting

on the earth "
.

43 D E F I N ITI ON OF
. E Q UAL T I M E S
The rst law o f motion by stating under what cir ,

c um s t c e s the veloci ty O f a moving body remains

an

constant supplies us with a method f dening e qual

, o

intervals o f time L et the material system consist o f

.

tw o bodies which do not act another and on on e ,

which are not acted by any body external to theon

system If one f these bodies 8 in mo t ion with respec t

. O 1

to the other the relative velocity will by the rst ,

law o f motio ri be constant and in a straight line

,

.
,

Hence intervals o f time are equal when the relative

displacements during those intervals are qual r e

.

This might at rst sight appear to be nothing more

than a denition o f what we mean by equal in t e vals o f r

time an expression which we have not hitherto dened

,

at all .

But if we suppose another moving system Of two

bodies to exist each o f which is not acted upon by
,

any body whatever this second system will give ,

us an independent method f compar ng inte vals o f o i r

time .

The statement that e qual intervals of time are those

during which e q ual displacemen t s occur in any such
See end f A ppendix I O

T This st tement re f e rs t the displ cement f

.

a b dy o a o on e o
me su red
a c mplete fr me f re fe rence tt ched t the the r
on a o a O a a o o

t be t r ue f m g W th uni f r m vel cities

.

I t w uldo notw p ints m or o o ov i o o

i f rel tive displ cement me nt me rely ch nge f dist nce between
,

a a a a o a

them I f ct the r mutu l dist nce h d g

n a i ccele r ti n t
a a u er o es a a o a a
r te v rying inversely the cube f th t dist nce t
a a as bse rve r o a a o an o
f d i ecti ns they w uld seem t r epel e ch the r
.

no t sensible o r o o o a o

with f rce beying th t l w f cti n

a o o a a o a o .
32 O N FO RCE [C H .

system is therefore equivalent to the assertion that t he

,

comparison of intervals f time leads to t he same o

result whe t her we use the rs t system of two bodies or

the second system as our time piece -
.

W thus see the theoretical possibility f comparing

e O

intervals f time however distant th ugh i t hardly

o , o is

necessary to remark that the me t hod canno t be put in

practice the neighbourhood of the earth any other
in ,
or

large mass of gravitating matter .

44 . T HE S EC OND
OF M O TI ON
L Aw
L aw I I Ch . an
g of m ti
l t th
e i p r por tion s o o on a o e

imp e d f rce a
r sse o ,
n d t k p l e i th dir ti
i whi h a es ac n e ec on n c

th e fo r i imp r s d
ce s e se .

By motion N ewton means what in modern scientic

language is called M omentum in which the q uantit y f , O

matter moved is taken into account as well as t he rate

at which it travels .

By impressed force he means what is now called

Impulse in which the time during which the force acts
,

is taken into account as well as the in t e nsity of the force .

45 . OF ED EF I N ITI ON
Q UAL M ASS ES AND OF
E Q UAL FO RCES
An exposition o f the law therefore involves a de i n

tion of e q ual q uantities o f matter and O f e q ual forces .

W Shall assume that it is possible to cause t he force

e

wi t h which n e body acts another to be o f t he same

o on

intensity on di fferent occasions .

If we admit the permanency f the properties f b dies o o o

this can be done W know that a t hread O f caou t chouc

. e

when s t re t ched beyond a certain lengt h exerts a tension

which increases the more the t hread is elonga t ed O n .

account of t his pr perty the thread is said t o be elas tic

o .

When the same thread is drawn out to the same length

it will if its pr perties remain constant exert the same
,
o ,

tension N ow let one end of the t hread be fastened to

.
I I I] M AS S 33

a body M not acted on by any other force than the

, ,

tension o f the thread and let the other end be held ,

in the hand and pulled in a constant direction with a

force just su ff cient to elongate the thread to a given
i

length The force acting on the body will then be of

.

a given intensity F The body will ac q uire velocity ,

.
,

and at the end O f a unit O f time this velocity will have

a certain value V , .

I f the same string be fastened to ano t her body N , ,

and pulled as in the former case S O that t he elongation ,

is the s me as before the force acting

a t he body , on

will be the same and if the velocity communicated to

,

N in a unit o f t ime is also the same namely V then , ,

we say o f the two bodies M and N that they consist

of equal q uantities o f matter o in modern langu ge , r, a ,

they are equal mass I n t his way by the use O f an

in .
,

elastic string we might adjust the masses f a number

, O

O f bodies S O as to be each e q ual to a standard unit

of mass such as a pound avoirdupois which is the
, ,

standard f mass in Britaino .

6 M E ASU RE M E N T OF M ASS
4 .

The scientic value Of the dynamical method f com o

paring quantities f matter is best seen by comparing ito

with other methods in actu l use a .

As long as we have to do with bodies f exactly the o

same kind there is no di fculty in understanding how

,

the quantity f matter is to be measured If e q ual

o .

q uantities of the substance produce equal effects of any

kind we may employ these effects as measures o f the
,

q uanti ty of the subst nce a .

F o nstance if we are de ling with sulphuric acid O f

r i ,
a

uniform strength we may es t imate the q uantity of a ,

given portion o f it in sever l di fferent ways W may a . e

weigh it we may pour it into a graduated vessel and

, ,

S O measure its volume we may ascertain how much , or

of a standard solution o f po t ash it will neutralise .

We might use the same methods to estimate a

34 O N F O RCE [ CH .

q uantity f nitric acid if

o we were dealing only with
n tric acid but if we wished to comp re a quanti ty
i ,
a

o f nitric acid wi t h a q uan t ity f sulphu ric acid we o

should obtain different results by weighing by mea ,

suring and by testing with an alkaline solu t ion

, .

O f these three me t hods that of weighing depends on ,

the attraction between t he acid and the ea th tha t o f r ,

measuring depends on t he v lume which t he acid o

occupies and tha t f titration depends on its power o f

, o

combining with potash .

I n abstrac t dynamics however ma t ter is considered , ,

under no other aspect than as t hat which have its ca n

motion changed by the applica t i n of force Hence o .

any two bodies are of e q ual mass i f e q ual f rces applied o

t these bodies produce in e q ual t imes e q ual changes

o , ,

o f velocity This the only denition of e q ual mass s

. is e

which can be admitted dynamics and it is applic ble in , a

to all material bodies whatever t hey may be made of ,

.

It is an observed fact t hat bodies of e q ual mass ,

placed in the same posi t ion rela tive to the earth are ,

attracted e q ually towards t he earth whatever t hey are ,

made of ; but this is t a doct ine of abs t rac t dynamics no r ,

founded axiomatic principles but a fact discovered

on ,

by O bservation and veri ed by t he careful experimen t s

,

o f N ewton on the times f oscillation o f holl w w oden

,
o o o

balls suspended by strings of t he same lengt h and , co n

t ining gold silver lead glass sand common sal t

a , , , , , ,

wood water and wheat

, ,
.

The fac t however that i the same geographical

, ,
n

posi t ion the weights f e q ual masses are e q ual so o , is

well established that no other mode of comparing ,

masses than that f comparing their weights is ever o

made use f either commerce in science except

o , in or ,

in researches undertaken for the spec ial purpose of

P r in c ipia III Pr p
A ctu l weight is c mp und e ff ect o 6 a a o o

in the m in ttr cti n but diminis h ed by re cti n g i nst

. . . .
,

a a a o a o a a
cent ripet l ccele r ti n f t h e m ss due the e rt h s r t ti n
,
'
a a a o O a to a o a o .

See p . 1 43 .
36 O N F O RCE [ C H .

I f as in Britain the units f length mass and time

, , o , ,

are on e foot one pound and one second th unit of

, , , e

force is that which in second would co mmuni ca t e

, one ,

to one pound a velocity f foo t per second This o one .

unit f force is called a P u d l

o o n a .

I n the F rench me t ric system the uni ts are one

centimetre gramme and
, one second The forc e ,
one .

which in second would communicate to one gramme

on e

a velocity of centimetre per second is called a Dy e

one n .

S ince the foot is 3 0 4 7 9 7 cen time t res and th pound e

is 4 5 3 5 9 grammes the poundal is 3 8 2 5 3 8 dynes

-

, 1 .

48 . S I MUL T AN EOUS AC TI ON
OF FO RCES ON A BODY
N w let a unit of force ac t for unit f t ime upon uni t
o o

o f mass The velocity f the mass will be changed

. o ,

and the total acceleration will be unity in the direc ti n o

o f the force

The magnitude and direction of this total acceleration

will be the same whether the body is originally at r est
or in motion F the expression at rest has no
. or


scientic meaning and the expression in motion if it, ,

refers t relative motion may mean anything and if it

o , ,

refers to absolute mo t ion can only refer to some medium

x ed in space To discover the existence of a medium
.
,

and t determine u veloci ty with respec t t i t by

o o r o

obse vation on the mo t ion f bodies is a legi tima t e

r o ,

scien t ic in q uiry but supposing all t his done we sh uld

,
o

have discovered not an error in the laws of motion

, ,

but a new fact in science .

Hence the effect f a given force on a body does not o

depend th e mo t ion o f tha t body

on .

N ei t her is it a ffected by the simultaneous action o f

other forces on t he body F t he e ff ect of these . or

forces on the b dy is only t o produce motion in the

o

body and this does n t affect the accelera tion produced

, o

by th e rst force .

C f A ppend ix I . .
I I I] I M PU L S E 37
Hence we arrive at the following form of the law .

Wh en y an n um ber o
ff b d t h
or c es a c t on a
o
y e a c ce ler a ,

fr
tion due to e a ch o ce is th e s a me in di ec tion a n d mag n itude r
as if th e o th ers h a d n o t been in a c tion .

When a force constant in direction and magnitude

, ,

acts o a body the total acceler tion is propor t ional to

n , a

the interval o f time during which t he force acts .

F if the force produces a certain total acceleration

or

in a given interval f time it will produce an e q ual

o ,

total acceleration in the next because the e ffec t o f t he ,

force does o t depend upon the velocity which the

n

body has when the force acts on i t Hence in every .

e q ual interval f time there will be an equal change o f

o

the velocity and t he total change f veloci ty from t he

, o

beginning f the motion will be proportional to the t ime

O

of action of the force .

T h e total acceleration in a given time is propor t ional

to the force .

Fo if several e q ual forces act in the same direc t ion

r

o n the same body in the same direction each produces ,

its effect independently o f the o t hers Hence the total .

acceleration i s proportional to the number f the e q ual o

forces .

49 O N I MPULS.E

The total e ff ect o f a force in communicating velocity

to a body is there fore proportional t o t he force and to
the time during which it ac t s conjointly .

The product f the t ime f action f a force into its

o o o

intensity if it is constant or its mean intensity i f it is

,

variable is called the I mp ul f the force

,
se o .

There are certain cases in which a force acts for so

short a time that it is di ffi cult t es t ima t e either i t s o

intensity o the time during which it acts But i t is

r .

comparatively easy t o measure t he e ff ec t o f t he force

in altering the mo t ion f t he body on which i t ac t s
o ,

which as we have seen depends o t he impulse

, ,
n .

The word impulse was originally used t o deno t e t he

38 O N FO RCE [ C H .

e ffect f a force of short duration such

o t hat of a ,
as

hammer striking a nail There is no essen t ial di ffer .

ence however between this ca e and an o t her c se a

W shall th fb use th
, , s

o f the action of force . e e re re e

word impulse as above dened wi t hout restric ting it ,

to cases in which the action is f an excep tionally o

transient character .

so R E LA TI ON. B E T W EE N F O RCE AND M ASS

I f a force acts
.
a uni t O f mass f certain inte val
on or a r

of time the impulse as we have seen is measured

, , ,

by the velocity generated .

If a number f e q ual forces act in the same direction

o ,

each a unit f mass the di ff eren t masses will all

on o ,

move in the same manner and may be j ined together ,

o

into one body without altering t he phenomenon The .

velocity f the whole body is e q ual to t ha t produced by

o

f the forces acting a uni t f mass

on e o on o .

Hence the force re q uired t o p roduce a given change

of veloci ty in a given t me pr portional to the i is o

number f units f mass of which the body consists

o
" o .

51 . ON M OM E N T UM
The numerical value of a body is of the M omentum
the product of the number f uni ts of mass in th body o e

into the number f units of velocity wi t h which it is o

moving .

The momentu m of any body is thus measu red in

terms f the momentum of unit o f mass mo ving with
o

uni t f velocity which is t aken as the unit f m men tum

o ,
o o .

The direction o f t he momentum is the same as that

of the vel cit y and as the veloci ty can only be estimated
o ,

with res pect t some point f reference t he particular

o o , so

value f the m mentu m depends t he point of refer

o o on

H e re m ss me ns the me su re f the ine r ti r th e r th n th e

a a a o a a a

q u ntity f m tte r ; t ex tremely gre t speeds t h ey w ul d t

a o a a a o no

be pr p rti n l but c nnected b

o o o al w inv lving the s peed o y a a o so

th t m mentum impulse uld then be the p rim ry qu nti ty

, ,

a o or o a a

an d ine rti de rived a a one .

 ]
111 EC O N D L A W O F M O TI O N
S 39
ence which we assume The momentum o f the moon .
,

for example will be very di fferent accor di ng as we t ake

,

the earth or the sun for the point Of reference .

52 . ST A TE M EN T OF THE SECOND L AW OF M O TI ON I N
TERMS OF IMPULS E AND M OM E N T UM
Th e c h g f m men tum f b dy
an e o um r i
o lly qual o a o is n e ca e

to th e imp ul e wh i h p r du
s it nd i cin th m o ces , a s e sa e

r
di ecti on .

53 . AD DITION : O F F O RCES
I f any number of forces act simultaneously a on

body each force produces an acceleration proportional

,

to its w magnitude ( A t icle

o n H ence i f in the r

diagram of accelerations ( Article 3 4 ) we draw from

any origin a line representing in direction and magni
tude the acceleration due to Of t he forces and on e ,

from the end f this li ne another representing the c

o a

c e le ti
ra due to another force and so o n drawing lines
on , ,

for each o f the forces taken in any order then the line ,

drawn from the origin to the extremity o f t he la s t Of the

lines will represent t he accelera t ion due to the combined
action o f all the forces .

S ince in this diagram lines which represent the

accelerations are in the same proportion as the forces
to w hi ch these accelerations are due we may consider ,

the lines as representing these forces t hemselves .

The diagram thus unders tood ma y be called a D iagram

, ,

o f F orces and the line from the or gin to the extremity

,
i

of the series represents the R esul t ant F orce .

A important c se s t hat
n which t he set O f lines
a i in

representing the forces term ina t e at t he origin so as t o

form a closed gure I n this case t here is no resultant .

force and no accelera t ion T h e ffects o f the forces are

,
. e

exac t ly balanced and t he case is e o f e q uilibrium

,
on .

The discussion of cases Of e q uilibrium forms t he subjec t

of the science of S ta t ics .

I t is mani fest t hat since the system Of forces is

4 0 O N FO RCE [
exactly balanced and is e q uivalen t t o no force at all
,
C

the forces will also be balanced if t hey act in t he same

H

way any o t her ma t erial sy t m T wha t ever b th

on s e , e e

mass of t hat system This s t he reason why t he con . i

sideration f mass does not enter in t o s ta tica l inves ti

o

g atio ns .

54 . T HE T H I RD LAW OF M O T I ON
L aw I I I Re a c tion is a lway s qua l a nd o
e ppo it s e to
a c tion , th a t is to s ay , th e a c tions o
f tw o bo dies u p on eac h

r
o th e lw y qua l
a re a d i opp r a s e an n os ite di ec tions .

When t he bodies be tween which ac ion takes th e t

place are not acted on by any o t her force the changes ,

in their respective momenta produced by t he acti n are o

equal and in opposite directions .

The Changes in t he velocities of t he t wo bodies are

also in opposite directions but not e q ual excep t in the , ,

case of equal masses In o t her cases t he changes of .

velocity are in the inverse ratio o f the masses .

55 . AC TI ON
AND R EACTI ON ARE T HE PA RTI AL
ASP EC T S OF A S T RESS
We have already ( Article 3 7 ) used the word S tress
to denote the mu tual act on between tw o portions of i

matter This word was borrowed from co m mon

.

langua e and invested wi t h a precise scien t c meaning

by t he ga t e Professor Rank ne t whom we are ndebted
, i

i ,
o i

for several other valuable s e e n t c terms i i .

As soon as we have formed for ourselves th e dea of i

a stress such as t he Tension of a rope or th e Pressure

,

between two bodies and have recogn sed ts double , i I

aspec t as t a ffects the t w por t ons f mat t er between

i o i o

E xcept h weve r reg rds t h e str ins w h ic h t h e system f

o as a a o
f rce sets up in de f rm ble b dy in c ses when t h ey d t
o s a o a o a o no
I t is when the e st r ins t r eg rd d
,

all t t the s me p int

ac a a o s a a re n o a e
is c ns de r d pe r fectly igi d th t
.
,

or the b d y which they

o on ac t o i e as r a
spe k f t h e st tic l eq uiv lence f tw systems f f rce
,

we ca n a o a a a o o o o s

1 I f the f rces d
.

o the s me p int t h e system must

o n o t ac t a t a o
be rigid else it will be de f rmed by t h em
,

a one, o .
I I I] ACTI O N AN D
RE ACTI O N 4 1

which it acts the third law O f motion is seen to be

,

e q uivalent to the statement t ha t all force is o f the nature

O f stress that stress exists only be tween two por t ions
,

o f matter and that its e ffects o t hese portions o f

,
n

matter ( measured by the momen t um generated in a

given time) are e q ual and opposi t e .

The stress is measured numerically by the force

exerted on either o f the tw o portions o f ma t ter It is .

distinguished as a tension when t he force acting o n

ei t her portion is towards the other and as a pressure ,

when t he force acting o n either portion is away from

the other .

When the force is inclined to the surface which

separates the two portions f matter t he stress cannot o

be distinguished by any term in ordinary language but ,

must be dened by t echnical mathematical t erms .

When a tension is exerted between tw o bodies by the

medium Of a string the stress properly speaking is

, , ,

between any tw o parts into which the s t ring may be

supposed to be divided by an imaginary section o r

transverse inter face I f however we neglect the weight

.
,

O f the string each por t ion f the string is in e quilibrium

,
o

under the action o f the tensions at its extremi t ies so ,

that the tensions at any tw o transverse inter faces f the o

string must be t he same F this reason we O ften . or

speak o f t he tension f the string a whole without

o as ,

speci fying any particul r section o f it and also the a ,

tension between the tw o bodies wi t hout considering ,

the na t ure f the string t hrough which the tension is

o

exerted .

5 6 A TT RA C TI ON.AND R E PULS I ON
There are other cases in which two bodies at a dis
tance appear mutually to act each o t her though we on ,

are not able to detect y intermediate body like t he an ,

string in the former ex mple t hrough which t he ac t ion

a ,

t akes place F instance two magne t s

. or t wo l t i,
or e ec r

e d bodies appear t act each o t her when pl ced at

o on a
42 O N FO RCE [C H .

considerable distances apar t and the motions of th ,

e

heavenly bodies are O bse ved t be aff ected in a mann er r o

which depends on their rela t ive posi t ion .

This mutual action between dis tant bodies is c lled a

attraction when it tends to bring t hem nearer and ,

repulsion when it tends to separa t e them .

I n all cases however t he action and reaction between

, ,

the bodies are equal and opposite .

57 . T H I D
T HE
R L AW T RU E OF A C TI ON A T A D I S T AN C E

The fact that a magnet draws iron towards i t was

noticed by the ancients but no at t en t ion w paid to ,
as

the force with which the iron attracts the magne t .

N ewton however by placing the magne t in one vessel

, ,

and the iron in another and fl oa t ing bo t h vessels in ,

water S O as to touch each other Showed experimen t ally ,

that as neither vessel was able to propel the o t her along

with itself through the water the a tt raction of the iron ,

o n the magnet must be equal and opposi t e to t hat O f

t he magne t o the iron both being equal to the pressure

n ,

be t ween the two vessels .

Having given this experimen t al illustration N ewton

goes o n to point ut the conse q uence o f denying t he
o

truth of this law Fo instance if the attraction o f any

. r ,

part f the earth say a mountain upon t he remainder

o , ,

o f the earth were greater less than tha t of t he remain or

der f the earth upon the mountain there would be a

o ,

residual force acting upon the sys t em f the ear t h and

,
o

the m un t ain as a Whole which would cause it to move

o ,

O ff ,
with an ever increasing vel ci ty t hr ugh innite
-
o ,
o

space .

5 8 N E W T ON .S PR OOF NO T E x

p ERI M E N T AL

This is c ntra y t t he rst law o f mo tion w h ich

o r o ,

asserts that b dy does o t Change its s tate f motion

a o n o

u nless acted on by xt r l f rce I t canno t be a ffi rmed

e e na o .

to be contrary to experience f t he e ff ec t o f an in , or

equality between the tt rac ti n f t he earth n the a o o o

 C H AP TER IV

ON T HE P R O PER T I E S O F T HE C E N T RE OF
M ASS OF A M AT E R I AL S Y S T EM

59 . OF A MD EF I N ITI ON
ASS V E C T O R -

WE have seen that a vector represen t t he opera t ion s

o f carrying a tracing point from a given origi n t o a given

po nt
i .

L et us dene a mass vector as the peration O f car ry-

o

ing a g ven mass from the origin t t he given poin t

i o .

The direction f t he mass vec t or s t he same as that o f

o -
i

the vector o f the mass but its magni t ude I S the produc t
,

o f the mass into t he vec t or f the mass o .

Thus if 0A is the vector o f t he mass A the mass ,

vec t or is 0A A . .

6 0 C E N T RE OF M ASS OF T wo PA RTI C L ES
.

If A and B are tw o masses and if a poin t C be taken ,

in the straight line AB so that B C is to C A as A to B , ,

then the mass vector o f a mass A B placed at C is

-

equal to the sum of the mass vectors f A and B -

o .

Fo r

NO W the mass vectors CA A and -

.

CB B are e q ual and pposite and

. o ,

so destroy each other so t hat ,

or C is a point such t hat if the

,

masses f A and B were coneen o

F ig 7 .
t t d a t C their m ss vector from
.
ra e ,
a -

any origin 0 w uld be t he same as o

when A and B are in t heir ctual p si t i ns The point a o o .

C is called the C n tr f Al s f A and B e e o as o .

CH I v
.
] M O M E N TU M 45

C E N TRE OF M ASS OF A S YS T E M
61 .

If the system consists f any number of particles we o ,

may begin by nding the centre of mass O f any two

particles and substituting fo the two particles a particle
, r

equal to their sum pl ced a t their centre of mass W e a .

may then nd the centre o f mass o f this particle to ,

gether with the third particle of the system and place ,

the sum Of the three particles at this point and so .

, on

till we have found the centre of mass Of the whole

system .

The mass vector drawn from any origin to a mass

-

e q ual to that o f the whole system placed at the centre

o f mass f the system is e q ual to the sum f the mass
o o

vectors drawn from the same origin to all the particles

o f the system .

It follows from the proof in Article 6 0 that t he

, ,

point found by t he const uction here given satises this r

condition It is plain from the condition itse lf that

.

only o n point can satisfy it Hence t he constru ction

e .

must lead to the same result as to t he position f the ,

o

C entre o f mass in whatever order we take the particles

,

of the system .

The centre of mass is there fore a denite point in

the diagram O f the conguration of the sys t em By .

assigning to the di fferent points in the diagrams of

displacement veloci ty total acceleration and rate Of
, , ,

acceleration the masses o f the bodies t o which they

,

correspond we may nd in each o f t hese diagrams a

,

point which corresponds to the centre f mass and o ,

indicates the displacement velocity total acceleration , , ,

or rate o f acceleration f t he centre o f mass o .

62 . M OM E N T UM
P S N TE D AS T HE RA T E OF RE RE E

C H AN G E OF A M ASS VECT O R -

I n the diagram o f veloci t ies if the points b ,

0, a, , c,

correspond to the velocities f the origin 0 and the o

bodies A B C and if p be the centre o f mass o f A

, , ,
4 6 CE N T R E O F MASS ON [ C H .

and B placed at and b respectively and if q is the a ,

centre o f mass o f A B placed at p and C a t th en c,

q will be the cen t re f m ass of o

b the sys t em of bodies A B C at , , ,

b c respec t ively a , , , .

The veloci ty f A wi t h respect o

t O is indicated by t he vec t or u o o ,

and t hat Of B and C by b and o ac .

F ig 8 p is the veloci t y of th e cen tre oof

mass o f A and B and q t hat f
. .

,
o o

the centre o f mass f A B and C wi t h respect to O o , , , .

The momentum f A with respect t o O is t he product o

o f the velocity into t he mass A what we have , o r 0a .

, or

already called the mass vector drawn fr m t o th ,

o o e

mass A at a S imilarly the momen tum of any ther

. o

body the mass vec t or drawn from t the poin t on

is o o

the diagram of velocities corresponding t that body an d o ,

the momentum f the mass o f the sys t em concen tra t ed

o

at t he centre f mass is the mass vector drawn from

o -
o

t the whole mass at q

o

S ince therefore a mass vector in the diagram of

, ,
-

velocities is what we have alre dy dened as a momen a

t um we may state the pr per ty proved i Article 6 1

, o n

in terms O f momenta t hus : The momentum f a mass ,

o

e q ual to that f the whole system moving wi t h the

o ,

vel city f the centre f mass f the sys t em is e q ual in

o o o o ,

magnitude and parallel in direction t the sum of th o e

m men t a of all the particles o f the system

o .

63EFF EC T OF E X T ERN AL FO RCES ON T HE M O TI ON

.

OF T HE C EN T RE OF M ASS
I n the same way
in the diagram f T t l Acceleration o o a

the vectors w n i B etc drawn from the origin repres ent

a ( , .
, ,

the change of velocity f the bodies A B etc d uring o , , ,

a certain interval f time The corre ponding mass o . s

vectors w A w B B etc represent the corres pond

, a .
, .
, .
,
iv] IT S M O T IO N 47
ing C hanges o f momentum by the second law O f , or,

motion the impulses of the forces acting

,
these on

bodies during that interval f o

time I f is the centre f mass 0:

. K o

o f the system is the change , on e

o f velocity during the interval ,

and m (A B C ) is t he
a

momentum generated in the

mass concentrated at the centre F ig 9
Of gravity Hence by Article
. .

.
,

6 1 the change o f momentum f the imaginary mass

,
o

e q ual to that O f the whole system concentrated at the

centre o f mass is equal t the sum Of the changes f o o

momentum of all the different bodies o f the system .

In virtue f the second law o f motion we may put

o

this result in the following form :

The e ff ect o f the forces acting n the different bodies o

of the system in altering the motion O f the centre f o

mass o f the system is the same as if all these forces

had been applied to a mass e q ual to the whole mass o f
the system and coinciding with its centre o f m ss
,
a .

64 . O TI ON OF T HE CE N T RE OF M ASS OF A
T HE M
S YS T E M I S NO T AFF E C T E D B Y T HE M U T UAL
ACTI ON OF T HE PA RT S OF T HE S YS T E M
F o if there is an action between tw parts Of the
r o

system say A and B the ac t ion o f A on B is always

, , ,

by the third law of motion equal and opposite t the , o

reaction o f B o A The momentum generated in B n .

by the action Of A during any interval is there fore

equal and opposite to that generated in A by t he
reaction o f B during the same interval and the m o t ion ,

o f the centre of mass f A and B is there fore not o

a ffected by their mutual action .

We may apply the result o f the last article to this

case and say that Since the forces A d on B rising
, on an a

from their mutual action are equal and opposite and ,

48 CE N TRE O F M AS S ON [ C H .

since the e ffect of t hese forces on the motion of th e

centre O f mass o f the system is the same as if t hey had

been applied to a par t icle whose mas s is e ual to th e
whole mass of the system and since the e ffect of two ,

forces e q ual and pposite to each o t her is z ero theo ,

motion f the centre o f mass will not be a ffec t ed

o .

S T AND S ECOND L AW S OF M O TI ON
65 . FI R
This is a very important result It enables us to .

render more precise the enunciation of the rst and

second laws o f motion by dening t h t by t he veloc ity ,
a

o f a body is meant the veloci t y o f its centre of mass The .

body may be rotating it may consis t f pa ts and be , or o r ,

capable of changes f con gura t ion so that t he motions o ,

o f different parts may be di fferen t but we can s ti ll ,

assert the laws of motion in the following form :

L aw I The centre o f mass f the system perseveres
. o

in its state O f rest or of uniform m t i n in a s t raight

,
o o

line except in so far as it is made to change that s t a t e

,

by forces acting on the system from withou t .

L aw I I The C hange of momentum f t he system
.
' o

during any interval of time is measured by the sum f o

the impulses of t he ex t ernal forces during t hat in t e val r .

66 . M ETH OD
OF T RE A TI N G S YS T EMS OF M OL ECUL ES
When the system is made up f par ts which are so o

small that we canno t bserve them and wh se mo tions o ,

o

are sorapid and so variable t hat even if we could

observe t hem we could no t describe t hem we are ,

still able t deal wi t h t he mo t ion of t he cen t re of mass

o

o f the system because t he internal forces which cause

,

the vari t i n f t he motion of the p rt s d no t affect

a o o a o

the motion f t he centre f mass o o .

M e ning in the p resent c nne i n m mentum f tr nsl t ry

a o x o o o a a o

m ti n line r m mentum
o o or distinguished fr m the ngul
a o as o a ar
m mentum f r t t ry m ti n C f Art 6 9 The l w h lds in
,

o o o a o o o a o an

extended sense f b t h t gethe r C f Art 7

. . . .

or o o . . . 0 .
I V] M ASS V ECT O R S -

49

67 . IN T RODU C TI ON OF T HE ID EA OF M ASS W E
BY T HE
PASS FROM PO I N T VE CT O RS PO I N T D I SPLA CEM E N T S -

, ,

VE LO C ITI ES TO T AL ACC E L ERA TI ONS AND RA T ES OF , ,

ACCE L ERA TI ON T O M ASS V E CT O RS M ASS D I SPLA CE ,

-

M E N T S M OM E N T A I MPULS ES AND M OV I N G F O RCES

, , ,
.

In the diagram o f rates f cceleration ( Fig 9 o a .

,

Article 6 3 ) the vectors w w B etc drawn from the a , , .

,

origin represent the rates f acceleration of the bodies

, o

A B etc at a given instant with respect to t hat f

, ,
.
, ,
o

the origin 0 .

T h e corresponding mass vectors w A w B B etc ,

a .
,
.
, .
,

represent the forces acting the bodies A B etc on , ,

.

We sometimes speak of several forces cting on a body a ,

when the force acting on t he body arises from several

di fferent causes S O that we na t urally consider the parts ,

o f the force arising from these di fferent causes separa t ely .

But when we consider force not wi t h respect to its ,

causes but with respect t its e ffect that f al t ering

, o o

the motion of a body w e speak o t of t he forces but n ,

o f the force acting o the body and this force is n ,

m easured by the rate of change o f the momentum f o

the body and is indicated by the mass vec t or in the

,
-

diagram f rates f accelera t ion o

"
o .

This distincti n is c nveniently exp ressed b y the te rms o o

appl d f ie d tw f F
o rc e s a n S ngle p rt cle these tw e ec e o r ces or a i a i o
st tic lly equ v lent The re f re f
.

sets a re a y b dy which
a i a o or an o c an
be reg rded system f p rticles held t gethe r by mutu l
.

a as a O a o a
in uences the s me must be t r ue in the gg reg te when their a a a

mutu l f rces ls included m ng the ppl ed f rces B t these

, ,

a o are a o a o a i o u
intern l mutu l f rces must in y c se I m medi tely bec me
.

a a o an a a o
ad j usted t be st tic l ly equilib r ted b y themselves
s o as o the r a a a o
se the p rts f the b dy w uld be set by them int c nt nu lly
,

W i a O o o o o i a
accele r ted m ti n even when it rem ved fr m ll extern l
a o o Is o o a a
in uences The re f re le vi ng them t f cc unt the f rces o a ou o a o o
pplied fr m W th ut
.
,

st t c lly equiv lent g d the

,

a o i o a re a i a a as re ar s

given t y pe f b dy t the e ff ect ve f rces th t ccele r te the

,

O o o i o a a a
p rticles elements f m ss f th t b dy This is the P i p l
,

a or o a O a o r n Ci e
f d A lembe r t th ugh it implied in the N ewt ni n scheme
.

o : o is o a

being p r v ded f b y the Th rd L w its m re p h t rec gniti n

,
0
o i or i a o ex CI oo o

7 4 3 g ve rise t gre t S mpl c ti n in the t tm

,

in 1 a f o a i i a o re a ent o

abstr use d yn m c l p r blems exempli ed in d Al m b t

a i a o as
H
e er s

discussi n f the spin f the e rth s x s wh ch c uses the p

,

o o o a a i i a re

cessi n f the equin xes b y reducing them t p r blems f st tics

o O o ,
o o o a

M .
4
50 O N CE N TRE O F M AS S [C H .

W have thus a series f different kinds of mass

e o

vectors corresponding to the series f vec t ors which we o

have already discussed .

W have in t he rst place a system o f m ss vecto s

e , ,
a -
r

wi t h a common origin which we may regard as a ,

me t hod f indicating the dis t ribu t ion of mass in a

o

material system j ust as the corresp nding sys t em f

,
o O

vectors indicates the geome t rical congura t ion f t he o

system .

I n the next place by comparing the distribution f ,

O

mass at two di fferent epochs we O btain a sys t em o f ,

mass vectors f displacemen t

-
o .

The rate f mass displacemen t is momentum just

o ,
as

the rate f displacement is velocity

o .

The hange O f momentum is impulse as t he change

C ,

of velocity is total acceleration .

The ra t e f Change of momentu m is moving force as

o ,

the rate f change f velocity is rate O f acceler tion

o o a .

68 . D EF I N ITI ON
OF A M ASS AREA -

When a material particle moves from n e point to o

another twice the area swept ou t by t he vec t r of the

,
o

particle multiplied by the mass f t he particle is called o

the mass area o f the displacement f t he particle wi t h

-
o

respect to the origin from which the vect r is drawn o .

I f the area is in n plane the direc t ion f t he mass

o e ,
o

area is n rmal t the plane drawn s t hat l king in

o o ,
o ,
oo

the p sitive direc t ion al ng t he normal t he mo t i n f

o o ,
o o

the par t icle round its area appears t be t he direc tion o

o f the m t i n O f t he hands f a watch

o o
"
o .

I f the rea is t in a plane t he pa t h O f t he

no one ,

particle mus t be divided in t o porti ns s small tha t o o

each coincides sensibly wi t h a s t raigh t line and t he ,

mass areas corresp nding t these p rt ions must be

-
o o o

ad ded together by t he rule f the addi t ion f vectors or o .

S t ted in
a bs lute te rms the m ti n r und th e r e is in
a o o o o a a
the di recti n f right h nded sc rew m ti n which p r gresse
,

o o a -
a o o o s

l ng the n rm l in the p sitive di recti n

a o o a o o .
52 O N CE N TRE O F M ASS [ C H .

force and the origin and in such a direction tha t , ,

looking along t his line in t he direction in which i t is

drawn t he force tends t o move t he par t icle round the
,

origin in t he direc t i n of the hands f a wa t ch o o .

Hence the rate of change f t he angular momen tum o

of a particle about t he origin is measured by the

moment of the force which acts on t he part icle abou t
tha t point .

The ra t e f Change f t he angular momentu m of a

o o

material system abou t t he origin is in like ma n ner

measured by the geome t ric sum of the momen ts
of the forces which act on t he par ticles f t he sys t em o .

7 CONS ERVA TI ON OF AN G ULAR M O M E N T UM

1 .

N w consider any two particles of th sys t em The

o e .

forces ac t ing these t wo par ticles arising from t heir

on ,

mutual ac t ion are e q ual opposite and in t he s me

, , , a

straight line Hence t he moments of t hese forces abou t

.

any point as origin are equal opposite and abou t t he , ,

same xi s The sum f t hese momen t s is t here fore ero

a . o z .

In like manner the mutual action be t ween every

other pair f particles in t he sys t em consists of tw
o o

forces t he sum of whose moments is ero

,
z .

Hence the mutual ac t ion be t ween t he bodies o f a

material sys t em does no t affec t t he geome t ric sum of
t he moments of t he forces The only forces theref re .
, o ,

which need be considered in nding the g ome t i c sum e r

of t he moments are those which are ex t ernal t the o

system that is to say be tween the whole or any ,

par t f t he sys t em and bodies no t included in t he

o

sys t em .

The ra t e f change of the angular momen t um of t he

O

system is t here f re measured by t he geome t ric sum of

o

the moments o f t he ex t ernal force acting on th s e

sys t em .

If the direc t ions f all t he external forces pa s through

o s

t he ori gin t heir moments are ero and the angular

, z ,

momen t um f th sys t em will remain constant

o e .
w] AN G U L AR M O M E N T U M 53

When a planet describes an orbit about the sun ,

the direction Of the mutual action between the two

bodies always passes through their common centre of
mass Hence the angul r momentum f either body
. a o

about their common cen t re f mass rem ins constant o a ,

so far as these tw bodies onl y are c c o d th ugh on e rn e ,

o

it may be a ff ected by t he action Of o t her planets If .

,

however we include all the pl nets in the system the

,
a ,

geometric sum of their angular momenta about their

common centre o f mass will remain absolutely c on

stant whatever may be their mutual actions provided

"
, ,

no force arising from bodies external to the whole solar

system acts in an une q ual manner upon the di fferent
members of the system .

Th t is the pl ne f the t t l ngul r m mentum f the

a a o o a a a o o
s l r s y stem is inv ri ble in d ecti n in sp ce
,

The pl ne
o a a a ir o a

f this r esult nt ngul r m mentum c lled by

.

a O a a a o a
L pl ce the inv ri ble pl ne
,

a a a a f und ment l f the ex ct

a is a a or a
speci c ti n f the m ti n f the s l r system
,

a o o o o o o a .
 CH AP TER V

ON WO R K AN D E N ER G Y

7 2 . D EF I N ITI ONS
WO RK is th e ac t of "
pr oducin
g a c h a ng e of cong ura tion
in a s s tem in o
y pp osition to a fr o ce wh ich esis ts th a t r
ch a n e
g .

EN ERG Y is the c p acity of doi g wo rk a n .

Wh en th e n a ture of ma te ri l sys tem a a is such th a t

f
i , a ft y er h th e
as under on e a n
g s
y s s tem
eri es o
f cha ng es
it is bro ug h t ba ck in any ma n n e to its o ig in a l s ta te r r ,

r
th e wh ole wo k don e by extern a l ag en ts on th e sy s tem
is e ual to th e wh o le work don e by th e sy s tem in over
q
c o min
g exte n a l
y r
o ces , th e s s tem is c a lled a fr
C O N
SERVAT IVE S Y STE M I

73 N C I PL E OF CONSERVA TI ON OF EN ERG Y
. PRI
The progress o f physic al science has led to the dis
c o ve y and investigat on o f d fferent forms O f energy
r i i ,

and to the establishment O f the doctrine that all

material systems may be regarded as conservative
systems p vid d that all the di fferent forms of energy
,
ro e

which exist in these systems are taken nto account i .

This doctrine considered as a deduct on from o b ,

i

servation and experiment can of course assert no , , ,

more than that no instance f a non conservati ve o -

system has hitherto been discovered .

As a scienti c o science pro duc m g doctr ne h w r -

i , o

The w rk d ne is qu ntit tive me su re f t h e e ff rt ex

o o a a a a o o
pended i de r nging the system in te rms f the c nsumpti n f
n a o o o o
ene rgy th t is requi red t give e ff ect t it
,

a o o

The ide f w rk impl es f und f ene rgy fr m w h ich th e w rk

a o o i a o , o o
is suppli ed
1 A s distinguis h ed fr m s y stem i which t h e ene rgy v il ble
.

'
o a n a a a

f w rk bec me gr du lly degr ded t less v il ble f rm s by

or o o s a a a o a a a o
f rict n l gencies c lled D ip ti Sy t m C f Art 9 3
io a a , a a i ss a ve s e . . . .
ca v]
. C O N S E R VATI O N 55
ever it is always acquiring addi t ional credibility from
,

the constantly increasing number of deductions which

have been drawn from it and which are found in all ,

cases to be veried by experiment .

I n fact the doctrine f the Conse vation of Energy is o r

the e generalised statement which is found to be

on

consistent with fact o t in n physical science only ,

n o e ,

but in all .

When once apprehended it furnishes t the physical o

in quirer a principle which he may hang every known on

law relating t physical actions and by which he may

o ,

be put in the way to discover the rela t ions o f such

actions in new branches Of science "
.

F o such reasons the doctrine is commonly called the

r

P rinciple o f the Conservation o f Energy .

74 . G EN ERAL S T ATE M EN T OF THE PRI N C I PL E OF

T HE C ONS ERVA TI ON OF EN E RG Y

Th e to ta l en ergy of a ny ma ter ia l sys tem is a qua n tity

which ca n n eith er be in cre as e d n or dimin ish ed by any
a c tion be tween th e a r ts o
f th p
e sy s tem , th o u h it m a
g y be
f
tr a n s ormed in to a ny of th e o rms of wh ich en ergy is f
p
s us ce tible .

If by the action of some agent external to the

,

system the conguration f the system is changed

,
o ,

while the forces o f the system resist this Change f o

conguration the external agent is said to do work n

,
o

the system I n this case the energy of the system is

.

increased by the amount O f work done on it by the

external agent .

I f o the contrary the forces o f the system produce

,
n ,

a change o f con guration which is resisted by the

external agent the system is said to do work o n the
,

E ve r y l w r el ting t the f r ces f st tic l

a a ste dy s y stems
o o o a a or a
is inv lved implicitl y in the c mplete exp ressi n f the E nerg y
o o o or

o f the system B t in kinetic system where f rce is be ng used

u a o i

in p r ducing ene rgy f m ti n m re el b r te p i p l is

. ,

o o o o a o a o a r n cr e te

r L A ex mple See f Ch pte r x

,

q ui ed th ,
t f e st
a cti n fo a o ,
or a . in ra , a i .
5 6 O N E N ERG Y [C H .

external agent and the energy of the system is dimin

,

is h d by t he amount f work which it does

e o .

Work therefore is a transference f energy from

, , o

one system to another ; the sys t em which gives u t o

energy is said to d work the sys t em which receives o on

it and the amount f energy g ven ut by t he rs t

, o i o

system is always exactly equal to that received by the

second .

If therefore we include bo t h systems in one larger

, ,

system the energy f the t o t al sys t em is neither

, o

increased nor diminished by the action of the on e

partial sys t em t he other on .

OF WO RK
75 . M EASU RE M E N T
Work done by an external agent on a ma t erial sys t em
may be described as a change in the congu r tion of
"
a

the system taking place under t he ac t ion of an ex t ern l a

force tending to produce that change .

Thus if o n pound is lift ed

, foo t from th gr und
e one e o

by a man in opposition to the force Of gravi t y a certain ,

amount f work is done by the man an d t his q u n tity

o , a

is known among engineers as one fo t pound o .

Here the man s the ex t ernal agent t he ma t erial i ,

system consists f t he earth and t he pound t he change fo , o

congura t ion is the increase of the dis tance be tween

the matter o f the eart h and t he ma tt er of th p und e o ,

and the force is the upward force exerted by t he man in

lifting the pound which is e q ual and opposi t e t o th e ,

weight o f the pound To raise t he p und a foo t higher . o

w uld if gr vi ty were a uni form force re q uire ex actly

o , a ,

the same amount O f work I t is t rue t hat gra vi t y is not .

really uni f rm but diminishes as we ascend from the

o ,

ear t h s surface so that a foot pound is not an accura t ely

,
-

See f tn te Art 7 oo o . 2 .

estim te f t h e t t l e ff e t by w k
,

T h ese ide s le ding t a a o an a o o a c or

d ne r the r th n m m t m p r d uced
,

o a a f the kind th t
o en u o a re o a

we re en f rced by L eibni W h t w then m inly need ed t v id

,

o z a as a o a o
set f n mes f th e di ff e rent e ff ects
.

c n f usi n w
o o as a o a or .
V] WO RK 57
known q uantity unless we specify the intensity o f
,

gravity at the place But fo the purpose f illustration

. r o

we may assume that gravi ty is uniform f a few feet of or

ascent and in that case the work done in lifting a pound

,

would be one foot pound for every foot the pound is

-

lifted.

To raise twenty pounds f water ten feet high o

re q uires 2 00 foot pounds f work T raise e pound

-
o . O on

ten feet high re q uires ten foot pounds and as there are -

twenty pounds the whole work is twenty times as

much ,
two hundred foot pounds
or -
.

The q uantity o f work done is therefore proportional , ,

to the product f t he numbers representing the force

o

exerted and the displacement in the direc t ion o f the

force .

I n t he case o f a foot pound the force is the weight o f

-

a pound quantity which as we know is di ff erent in

a , ,

different places The weight f a pound expressed

. o in

absolute measure is numerically equal to the intensity

o f gravity the q uant ty denoted by g the value f
,
i , o

which in poundals to the pound varies from 3 2 2 27 at

the poles to 3 2 1 1 7 at the e quator and diminishes
-

without limit as we recede from the e rth In dynes a .

to the gramme it varies from 9 7 8 to 9 8 3 Hence -

1 1 . .
,

in order t express work in a uni form and consistent

o

manner we must mul t iply the number f foot pounds

, o -

by the number representing the intensity f gravity at o

the place The work is thus reduced t foot poundals

. o -
.

W shall always understand work t o be measured in

e

this manner and reckoned in foot poundals when no -

other system f measurement is mentioned W hen

o .

work is expressed in foot pounds the system is that o f -

g r vit ti
a a m u on which
-
is
eas t a complete
res , sys t em no

unless we also know the intensity Of gravity a t t he

place .

I n the metrical system the unit Of work is the E rg ,

which is the work done by a dyne acting through a

centimetre There are 4 2 1 3 93 8 ergs in a foot poundal
.
-
-
.
58 O N E N ERG Y [ C H .

7 6 P O T E N TI AL EN E RG Y .

The work done by a man in raising a heavy body is

done in overcoming t he attraction between the earth
and that body The energy o f the material system
.
,

consisting of the ear t h and t he heavy body is thereby ,

increased If the heavy body is t he leaden weight of a

.

clock the energy of the clock is increased by winding

,

it up s that the clock is able to g for a week in spite

, o o

of the friction of the wheels and the resis t ance f the O

air to the motion of the pendulum and also to gi e out , y

energy in other forms uch as t he communication of , s

t he vibrations to the air by which we hear the ticking ,

o f the clock .

When a man w i d up a watch he does work in n S

'

changing the form of the mainspring by coiling i t up .

The energy f the mainspring is thereby incre sed so

o a ,

that as it uncoils itself it is able t o keep t he wa t ch

going .

In both these cases the energy communica t ed to the

system depends upon a Change of co gu ration n .

77 K I N ET I C EN ERG Y .

But in a very important class of phenomena t he work

is done in Changing the velocity f the body on which it o

acts L et us take as a simple case t hat of a body

.

moving without rotation under the ac tion of a f rce o .

L et the mass of the body be M pounds and le t a f rce , o

of F p undals act on it in the line f motion du ring an

o o

interval f time T seconds L et t he velocity a t th

o ,
. e

beginning of the interval be V and t hat at t he end V

feet per second and let t he dist nce t avelled by the

,
a r

body du ing the time be S feet The original momen

r .

tum is ill V and the nal momen t um is M V S O that

,
'
,

the increase of momen t um is M ( V V) and this by '

, ,

the second law f mo t ion is e q ual to F T the impul

o , , se

of the force F acting f the time T Hence or .

'
FT = M (V V)
60 O N E N ERG Y [ C H .

the kinetic ener gy o f the body we may by adding the , ,

successive por t ons f the work and the successive

i o

increments of energy arrive at the resul t t hat the to tal ,

work done by the force is equal to t he total increase f o

kinetic energy .

I f the force acts the body in the direction opposite

on

to its motion the kinetic energy O f the body will be

,

diminished instead f being increased and the force o , ,

instead of doing work on the body will act as a resist ,

ance which the body in its motion overcomes Hence

, , , .

a movin g body as long as it is in motion can do work

, , in

overcom ng resistance and the work done by the moving

i ,

body equal to the diminution of its kinetic energy

is ,

till at last when the body is brought to rest its kinetic

, ,

energy is exhausted and the whole work it has done ,

is then equal to the whole kinetic energy which it had

at rst .

W w see the appropriateness f the name ki ti

e no o ne c

en e rgy which we have hitherto used merely as a name

,

to denote t he product AM V F t he energy o f a body ?

or

has been dened as the capacity which it has of doing

work and it is measured by the work which it can do
,
.

The ki ti energy of a body is the energy it has in

ne c

virtue of being in m ti and we have now shown that o on ,

its value expressed by M Vis AM V x V t hat -

1~
2
2
or ,
is ,

half the product of its momentum into t velocity i s .

O B L I Q U E FO RCES 7 8 .

I f the force acts the body at right angles t the on o

direction f its motion it does no work the body and

o on ,

it al t ers the direction but not the magnitude f the o

vel ci ty The kinetic energy therefore which depends

o .
, ,

on t he s q uare of t he vel city remains unchanged o , .

If t he directi n f the force is nei t her coincident with

o o ,

nor at right angles t that of the motion f the body we o ,

o

may resolve the f rce nto two c mponents o f which i o , one o

is at right angles to the direction f motion while the o ,

V] O F A B O DY I N M O TI O N 61

other is in the direction o f motion ( in the O pposite or

direction ) .

The rst f these components may be left o ut o f

o

consideration in all calculations about energy Since it ,

neither does work the body o al t ers its kinetic

on n r

energy .

The second component is that which we have already

considered When it is in the direction o f motion it
.

increases the kinetic energy O f the body by the amount

of work which it does the body W hen it is in the
on .

opposite direction the kinetic energy o f the body is

diminished by the amount o f work which the body does
against the force .

Hence in all cases the increase f kinetic energy is o

e q ual to the work done on the body by external agency ,

and the diminution of kinetic energy is e q ual to the

work done by the body against external resistance .

79 .K I N E TI C EN ERG Y OF T wo P ARTI CL ES RE FERRE D

T O TH E I R CE N T RE OF M ASS
The kinetic energy o f material system is equal to
a

the kinetic energy f a mass e q ual to that O f t he system

o

moving with the veloci t y f the centre O f mass of the

o

system together with the kinetic energy due to the

,

motion o f the parts f the system o

relative to its centre o f mass .

L et us begin with the case f o

two particles whose masses are A

and B and whose veloci t ies are
,

represented in the diagram f o

velocities by the lines u and b o o .

I f is the cen tre o f mass f a

c F ig o . 1 0 .

particle e q ual to A placed at a,

and a particle e q ual to B placed at b then oc will ,

represent the velocity o f t he cen t re o f mass f t he two o

particles .
62 E N ERG Y ON
[CH .

The kinetic energy of t he sys t em is t he sum of th e

kinetic energies O f t he particles or ,

T= iAo a 13 0m
z
.

Expressing 0a
2
and ob
2
in terms of 0c , c a and c b, and
the angle oca 9,
T -

] Aoc
2
"
A ca
2
Ao c . ca cos 0
A
B o c
2
B c b 2
B oc . c b COS 0
.

But Since is the centre c of mass of A at a and B at b , ,

Aca B eb 0 .

Hence adding
T= B) o A ( A c b c
2
ca
2 Z
,

or the kinetic energy of the sys t em f t wo particles A

, o

and B is equal t o that of a mass equal to ( A B )

moving with the velocity f the centre O f mass together o ,

with that Of the mo t ion of the par t icles relative to the

centre of mass .

8 0 K I N ETI C EN ERG Y OF A M A T ERI AL S YS T EM

.

RE F ERRE D T O I T S C EN T RE OF M ASS

We have begun wi t h the case of t w particles because o ,

the mo t ion o f a particle is assumed to be that of its

centre of mass and we have proved our proposi tion
,

t rue for a system f tw particles But if t he prop o si

o o .

tion is true for each f two mate ial sys t ems taken o r

separa t ely it must be tru e f the sys t em which t hey

, O

f rm together F if we now suppose a and b t o

o . or 0 o

represent the velocities of the centres O f mass o f two

ma t erial systems A and B then will represent t he ,
oc

velocity f t he centre of mass o f t he combined system

o

A B and if TA represen t s the kine t ic energy of the

,

mo t i n o f t he system A relative to it own centre of

o s

mas s and T the same f t he system B t hen if the

, I, or ,

proposition is true f the systems A and B taken or

separately t he kinetic energy of A is

,

2
44 00 TA ,
and t hat of B 43 0m T3 .
v] O F A M AT E RI AL SY S T E M 63

The kinetic energy Of the whole is there fore

-
Aoa 2
o
-

B b z
TA TB ,

5 (A B) A oc
2
TA B
ca b 2
T c
2
E

The rst term represents the kinetic energy Of a mass

e q ual to that O f the whole system moving with the
velocity o f the centre o f mass o f the whole system .

T h e second and t hird terms taken together represent , ,

the kinetic energy f the system A relative to the centre

o

o f gravity f the whole system and the fourth and

O ,

fth terms represent the same f the system B or .

Hence if the proposition is t ue for t he two systems r

A and B taken separately it is true f the system

,
or

compounded o f A and B But we have proved it true .

for the case o f two par t icles ; it is t here fore t ue f r or

three four any other number Of particles and there

, , or ,

fore f any material system

or .

The kinetic e ergy o f a system re ferred to its centre

n

o f mass is less than its ki netic energy when re ferred to

an y other point .

F the latter q uantity exceeds the former by a

or

q uantity equal to the kinetic energy o f a mass e q ual to

that o f the whole sys tem moving wi t h the velocity Of
the centre f mass relative to the other point and since
o ,

all kinetic energy is essentially positive t his excess must ,

be positive .

8 1 AVA I LA B L E K I N E TI C E N ERG Y
.

W have already seen in Article 64 tha t the mutual

e

action between the parts o f a material system cannot

change the velocity o f the centre f mass f t he s y stem o o .

Hence that part O f the kinetic energy O f the system

which depends t he motion f t he centre o f mass
on o

cannot be a ff ected by any action internal t the system o .

It is there fore impossible by means of t he mu t ual

.
,

action o f t he par ts o f the sys t em to convert this part ,

of the energy into work AS far as the system i t self

.

is concerned this energy is unavailable I t can be

, .
64 O N E N ERG Y [C H .

conver t ed into work only by means f t he ac t ion o

between this system and some o t her material system

external t o it .

Hence if we consider a material sys t em unconnec t ed

th any o t her sys t em its available kinetic ener
,
is
that which is due t t he mo t ions f t he parts
o t he o 0

sys t em relative t its cen t re of mass

o .

L et us suppose t hat the ac t ion be tween t he parts of

the system is such tha t aft er a cert ain time t he con
gu ration f the system becomes invariable and let us
o ,

call this process the solidication f t he system W e o .

have shown that the angular momentu m f the whole o

system is not changed by any mutu al ac ti n of i ts parts o .

Hence i f t he original angular momen tum is ero th z , e

system when its form becomes invariable will no t rotate

, ,

about its cen t re o f mass but if i t moves a t all will move

,

parallel to itself and th parts will be a t res t rela tive

, e

to the centre o f mass In this case therefore t he whole

.

available energy will be converted into work by t he

mutual action f the parts during t he solidication o f
o

the system .

If t he system has angular momentum it will have ,

the same angular momentum when solidied I t will .

therefore rotate about its centre f mass and will o ,

t herefore still have energy of mo t ion rela tive to i ts

cen t re f mass and this remaining kinetic energy has
o ,

not been converted in t o work .

But i f t he parts f t he sys t em are all wed to separa t e

o o

from one another in direc ti ns perpendicular t th o o e

axis f the angular momen tum of t he s y s t em d if t he

o , an

sys t em when t hus expanded is solidied t he remaini ng ,

kine tic energy o f ro t t ion round t he cen t re f mass

a o

will be less and less the grea t er t he expansi n of the o

system so t hat by sufcien t ly expanding the sys t em

,

[ be fore i t is s lidied
o
] we may make t he remaining
kine t ic energy as small as we plea e that th whole s , so e

kine t ic ener relative t o t he cen t re of mass of the

system may a: conver t ed into work within the system .
v] P O TE N TI AL E N ERG Y 65

O TE N TI AL EN ERG Y
82 . P

The potential energy of a material system is the

capacity which it has of doing work [ on other systems]
depending on other circumstances than the motion
of the system I n other words potential energy is that
.
,

energy which is o t kinetic n .

I n the theoretical ma t erial system which we build up

in u imagination from the fundamental ide as of matter
o r

and motion there are no other conditions present except

,

the conguration and motion f the di ff erent masses of o

which the system is composed Hence in such a system .

the circumstances upon which the energy must depend

are motion and conguration only so that as the kinetic , ,

energy depends the motion the potential energy

on ,

must depend the conguration on .

I n many real material systems we know that part of

the energy does depend o n the con g uration Thus .

the mainspring o f a watch has more energy when

coiled up than when partially uncoiled and two bar ,

magnets have more energy when placed side by side

with their similar poles turned the same way than when
their dissimilar poles are placed next each other .

ELAS TI C IT Y 83 .

In the c se f the spring we may trace the connexion

a o

between the coiling o f the spring and the force which

it exerts somewhat further by conceiving the spring
divided ( in imagination ) into very small parts o ele r

ments When the spring is coiled up the form of each

.
,

o f these small parts is al t ered and such an alteration of ,

the form f a solid body s called a S train

o i

In solid bodies strain is accompanied with internal

force stress ; those bodies n which the stress depends
or I

simply n the strain are called Elastic d the property

o ,
an

o f exerting s t ress when strained is called Elasticity .

W thus nd that t he coili ng of the spring involves

e

the strain o f its elements and that the external force ,

66 E N ERG Y ON [C H .

which the spring exer ts is the resulta nt of the stresses

in its elements .

We thus substitute for the immediate relati on

between the coiling of the spring and the force which i t
exert s a relation be tween the strains and s t ress es of
,

t he elements o f the spring ; that is to say for a single ,

displacement and a single force the relation be twee n ,

which may in some cases be of an exceedingly compli

c t d nature we substi t ute a mul t itude
a e , f s t rains and o

an equal number o f stresses each strain being c , on

ne c t d with its corresponding stress by a much more

e

simple relation .

But when all is done the nature f t he connexion , o

between congu ration and force remains as mys t e ious r

as ever We can only admit the fact and if we call

.
,

all such phenomena phenomena f elas ticity we may o ,

nd it very convenient to classify t hem in t his way ,

provided we remember that by the use of the word

elastici ty we do not profess to explain the ca use of th e
connexion between con guration and energy .

A T A D I S T AN CE
84 . AC TI ON
I n the case o f the two magnets t here is no visible
subs t ance connecting the bodies be t ween which t he
stress exists The space betw een the mag ets may be
. n

lled with air r with water we may place the ma ets

o , or

in a vessel and remove t he air by an air pump ti 1 the -

magnets are le ft in what is commonly called a vacuum ,

and yet the mutual ac t ion o f the magnets will not be

altered We may even place a solid plate of glass or
.

metal or wood between the magnets and s t ill we nd ,

that t heir mu t ual ac t ion depends simply on their

rela tive posi tion and is not percep t ibly modi ed by
,

placing any substance betwee n them unless that ,

substance is one of the ma gnetic metals Hence th e .

action between t he magnets i s commonly spoken of as

i
a c t on a t a dis ta nc e .
68 O N E N ERG Y [C H .

Hence in this case the potential energy is cons ta nt

f
or all distances greater than the dis tance of rst
cont ct and then rapidly increa e when th e distan ce
a , s s

is diminished .

The force between magnets varies with t he distan ce

in a very di ff erent manner and in fact we nd t hat it is
,

only by experiment that we can ascertain the form of

the relation between the congura t ion f a system and o

its potential energy .

86 . AP PL IC A TI ON
OF T HE M ETH OD OF ENE RG Y To
T HE CAL C ULA TI ON OF F O RC ES

A complete knowledge f the mode in which the

o

energy o f a material system varies when t he c n gu ra o

tion and mo t ion o f t he system are made to vary is

mathematically equivalent to a knowledge of all t he
dynamical properties of the system The mathe ma tica l .

methods by which all the forces and stresses in a movi ng

system are deduced from the single ma t hematical
formula whi ch expresses the energy as a func t ion of the
variables have been developed by L agrange H am il ton , ,

and other eminent mathematicians but it would be ,

difcult even to describe them in t erms of the elemen tary

ideas to which we restrict ourselves in this book A . n

outline of these methods is given in my trea tise on

E lec tricity P a t I V Chapter V Article
, r , and the
,

application of these dyna m ical methods t electro o

magnetic phenomena is given in the chap t ers im

mediately following .

But if we consider only the case of a system at rest

it is eas y to see h o w we can ascertain the forces of the
system when we know how i t s energy depends on its
con guration .

F r let us suppose that an agent external to the

o

system produces a displacement from n congura tion o e

to another then if in t he new con guration the system

,

R eprinte d i f p 3 n ra , . 12 .
 V] F O RCE I N TE R M S O F E N ERG Y

possesses more energy than it did at rst it can have ,

received this increase f energy only fr m the external

o o

agent This agent must there fore have done an amount

.

o f work equal to the increase f energy It must o .

therefore have exerted force in the direction O f the

displacement and the mean value o f this force multi
, ,

plied into the displacement must be e q ual to the work ,

done Hence the mean value f the force may be found

. o

by dividing the increase o f energy by the displacement .

If the displacement is large this force may vary con

s ide b ly during the displacement so that it may be
ra ,

difcult to calculate its mean value ; but since the force

depends on the conguration i f we make the displace ,

ment smaller and smaller the varia t ion of the force will
become smaller and smaller so that at last the force ,

may be regarded as sensibly constant during the dis

placement .

If therefore we calculate fo r a given conguration

, ,

the te at which the energy increases with the dis

ra

placement by a method similar to that described in

,

Articles 2 7 2 8 and 3 3 this rate will be numerically

, , ,

e q ual to the force exerted by the external agent in the

direction o f the displacement .

I f the energy diminishes instead o f increasing as the

displacement increases the sys t em must do work on ,

the external agent and the force exerted by the external

,

agent must be in the direction O pposite to that o f dis

placement .

8 7 S PE C I F I C A TI ON OF T HE [ M OD E OF AC TI ON]
.

OF FO RCES
I n treatises on dynamics the forces spoken of are
usually those exerted by the external agent o n the
material system I n tre tises n electricity on the
. a o ,

other hand the forces spoken f are usually those

,
o

exerted by the electried system agains t an external

agent which preven t s the system from moving It is .

necessary therefore in reading any statement about

, ,
70 ON E N ERG Y (c u .

forces to ascert in whether t he force spoken of is to

,
a

be regarded from the one point of view or t he other .

We may in general avoid any ambigui ty by viewing

the phenomenon as a whole and Speaking o f i t as a
,

stress exerted betw een two points or bodies and dis ,

tin guis h in g it as a tension or a pressure an at traction or

,

a repulsion according to its direction S e e Ar ticle 5 5

, . .

8 8 APPL I C A TI ON T o A S YS T E M I N M O TI ON
.

It thus appears that from a knowledge of the potential

energy of a system in every possible conguration
we may deduce all the external forces which are e r

quired to keep the system in ;any given ] conguration

If the system is at rest and i ] these external forces ar e
.

the actual forces the system will remain in e q uilib rium

, .

If the system is in motion the force ac t ing eachon

particle is that arising from the connexions of the

system ( equal and opposite to the ex t ernal force j ust
calculated ) to g e t her with any external force which may
,

be applied to i t Hence a complete knowledge of th e

.

mode in which the potential energy varies wi th the

conguration would enable us to predict every possible
motion of the system under the ac tion of given external
forces provided we were able to overcome th e purely
,

mathematical difculties o f the calculation .

8 9 APPL I CA TI ON o r T HE M ETH OD OF ENE RG Y T o

.

T HE I NV ES TIG A TI ON o r R EAL BOD I ES

When we pass from abstract dynamics to physics

from material systems whose only properties are those
,

expressed by their denitions to real bodies whose

, ,

properties we have t o investiga t e we nd that there

are many phenomena which we are not able t o explain
as changes in the congu ration and mo tion of a material
system .

O f cou rse if we begin by assuming that the real

bodies are sys t ems c mposed o f ma t ter which a grees
o

in all respects wi t h t he denitions we have l aid down ,

V ] EX P ERI M E N T AL M ETH O D 71
we may go o to assert that all phenomena are changes
n

o f conguration and motion though we are not pre ,

pared to dene the kind o f conguration and motion by

which the particular phenomena are to be explained .

But in accurate science such asserted explanations must

be estimated not by their promises but by their per
, ,

fo m n c e s The conguration and motion o f a system

r a .

are facts capable f being described in an accura t e

o

manner and there fore in order that the explan tion o f

, ,
a

a phenomenon by the conguration and mo t ion o f a

material system may be admitted as an addition to our
scientic knowledge the congurations motions and
, , ,

forces must be specied and Shown to be consistent ,

with known facts as well as capable f accounting for

,
o

the phenomenon .

g o V A
. R I A B L E S ON W HI CH T HE EN ERG Y D E P E NDS

But even when the phenomena we are studying

have not yet been explained dynamically we are still ,

able to make great use o f the principle of the conserva

tion of energy as a guide to u researches o r .

To apply this principle we in the rst place assume ,

that the quanti ty f energy in a material system depends

o

o n the state o f that system S O that for a given state

,

there is a denite amount o f energy .

Hence the rst step is to dene the di fferent states

o f t he system and when we have to deal with real
,

bodies we must dene their state with respect not only

to the conguration and motion f their visible parts o ,

but if we have reason to suspect that the conguration

and motion of their invisible particles inuence the
visible phenomenon we must devise some method o f
,

estimating the energy thence arising .

Thus pressure temperature electric potential and

, , ,

chemical composition are variable q uantities the values ,

of which serve to specify the state o f a body and in ,

general the energy f the body depends on the values

o

of these and other variables .

72 O N E N ERG Y [ CH .

91 .EN ERG Y I N T E RM S OF T HE V AR I AB L ES

The next step in u investiga t i n is t o determineo r o

how much work must be done by extern l agency on a

the body in order to make it pass fr m one spec i ed o

state to another .

Fo this purpose it is su fcient to know th e work

r

required to make the body pass from a particular st te a ,

which we may call the tand rd t te into any o t her s a s a ,

specied state The energy in the la t ter state is equal

.

to that I n the s t nd rd state toge t her with the work

a a ,

required t bring it from the standard state into t he

o

speci ed state The fact that this work is th same

. e

through whatever series f st tes the sys t em has passed o a

from the sta ndard state to the specied s tate is the

founda t ion f the whole theory f energy
o o .

S ince all the phenomena depend on t he variations of

the energy of the body and n t on its t otal val ue it is , o ,

unnecessary even if it were possible t o fo m y

, , r an

es t imate o f the energy o f the body in its standard state .

T H EO RY OF H EA T
9 2 .

O ne of the most important appli cations of th e prin

c iple o f the conservation of energy is to the I nvestigation
of the nature o f heat .

At one time it was supposed that the d ff erence b i e

tween t he states o f a body when hot and when cold w as

due to the presence o f a subst nce called caloric which a ,

existed in greater abundance in t he body when hot t han

when cold But the experiments f Rumf ord on the
. o

heat produced by th friction o f metal and of D avy o n

e ,

the melting of ice by friction have shown that when ,

work is spen t in overcomi ng fricti n the amount of heat o ,

produced p roportional to the work spen t

Is .

The exper ments o f Him have also shown that when

i

heat s made to do work n a steam engine part of th e

I I -

heat disappea s an d t hat the heat which disappears is

r ,

proportional to the work done .

 HE AT
A very care ful measurement o f the work spent in
friction and f the heat produced has been made by
,
o ,

Joule who nds that the heat re q uired to raise one

,

pound o f water from 3 9 F to 4 0 F is e q uivalent to

.

.

77 2 foot pounds o
-
f work at M anchester o foot , r

poundals .

F rom this we may nd that the heat re q uired to

raise n e gramme o f water from 3 C to 4 C is
o

.

.

ergs .

93 H E A T A F O RM OF
. EN E RG Y

N o w since heat can be produced it cannot be a sub

,

stance ; and since whenever mechanical energy is lost by

friction there is a production o f heat and whenever ,

there is a gain f mecha n ical energy in an engine there

o

is a loss of heat ; and since t he quantity o f energy lost

or gained s proportional to the q uantity f heat gained
i o

or lost we conclude that heat a form f energy

,
Is o .

We have also reasons for believing that the minute

particles o f a hot body are in a state f rapid agitation o ,

that is to say that each par t icle is always moving very

,

swiftly but that the direction of its motion alters so

,

often that it makes little o no progress from n e region r o

to another .

If this be the case a part and it may be a very large

, ,

part of the energy o f a hot body must be in the form

,

o f kinetic energy .

But fo o u present purpose it is unnecessary to

r r

ascertain in what form energy exists in a hot body ; the

most important fact is that energy may be measured in
the form o f heat and Since every kind of energy may
,

be converted into heat this gives us o n e of the most ,

convenient methods f measuring it o .

94 EN ER G Y M E ASU RE D AS H EA T
.

Thus when certain substances are placed in con t act

chemical actions take place t he substances combine in ,

a new way and the new group f subs t ances has di ffer
, o
74 E N ERG Y
ON [ C H .

ent chemical proper t ies from the original group of

substa nces D uring this process mechanical work m ay
.

be done by the expansion of the mix ture as when ,

gunpowder I S red an electric current may be produced

, ,

as n the voltaic battery ; and heat may be generated

i ,

as in most chemical act ons i .

The energy given o ut in the form of mechanical

work may be measured direc t ly or i t may be trans ,

formed into heat by friction The energy spent in .

producing the electric current may be estima t ed as

heat by causing the current to ow throu g h a conductor
of such a form that the heat genera t ed n it can eas ily I

be measured Care must be taken that no energy 3

. 1

transmitted to a distance t he form f sound or

in o

radiant heat without bein g duly accounted for .

The energy remain i ng i the mixtu re toge t her wi th

n ,

the energy which has escaped must be equal to t he ,

original energy .

Andrews Favre and S ilbermann [ Julius Thomsen

, ,

and others have me asured the q uant ty o f heat pro

, i

du c e d when a certain quantity f oxygen o r of chlorine o

combines with ts equivalent o f other substa nces These

I .

measurements enable us to calculate the excess of th e

energy which the substances concerned had in th eir

original state when uncombined above that which th ey
, ,

have after combination .

95 S C
. I E N TI F I C W O RK T O B E DON E

Though a great deal f excellent w rk f t his kind

o o o

has already been done the extent of the eld hi t herto

,

inves t iga t ed appears q uite insigni cant when we con

sider the boundless variety and complexity o f the
natural bodies with which we have t o deal .

In fact t he special work which lies before the ph s ical

in q uirer in the present state of science is the de ter
mination o f the q uan t ity f energy which enters o r
o

leaves a material system during the passa e of t he sys

tem from its s t andard s t ate t o any o t her denite state .
76 E N ERG Y [ON
O H .

its point f application Acc rding t this deni t i n

o . o o o

t he Action f the external agent is t he ra t e at which i t

o

does work This is what is meant by the P wer of a

. o

steam engine -
other prime mover It is gene ally
or . r

expressed by the estimated number of ideal horses

which would be required to do the work at t he same
rate as the engine and this is called t he Horse power
,
-

o f the engine .

When we wish to express by a single word the ra t e

at which work is done by an agent we shall call it t he
P ower of the agent dening t he power as t he work ,

done in the unit f time o .

The use o f the term Energy in a precise and scientic ,

sense to express the quanti ty o f work which a ma t e ial

, r

system can do was in t roduced by D r Y oung

,

97 . ON O MS
T HE
R OF END I FF ERE N T
ER G Y F

The energy which a body has in vi rtue of its motion

is called kinetic energy .

A system may also have energy in vi rtue of its co n

guration if the forces o f the system are such that th e
,

system will do work against external resis tance while it

passes into another conguration This energy is called .

P otential Energy Thus when a Stone has been li ft ed

.

to a certain height above the earth s su rface t he sys t em

o f two bodies the stone and t he ear t h has po t en ti l

, , a

energy and is able t do a certain amount of work

, o

during the descent o f the stone This po t en t ial energy .

is due t the fact that the stone and t he earth a t tract

o

e ch other so that work has to be spent by th man

a , e

w h li fts the stone and draws it away from th earth

o e ,

and a ft er the S t one is l ifted t he attrac t ion between the

earth and t he stone is capable of doing work as the stone
descends This kind of energy t herefore depends
.
, ,

upon t he work which the forces of t he system would d o

L t N t l P h il
e c ur e s phy
on L ectu re V I I I
a ura os o .
v] D I FF ERE N T F O R M S O F E N ERG Y 77
if the parts o f the system were to yield to the action
of these forces This is called the S um o f the Ten

sions by Helmholt i his celebrated memoir o n the

z n

Conservation o f Energy Thomson called it S tatical

Energy ; it has also been called E nergy o f Position ,

but R an kine in t roduced the term Potential E gy r a n er

~

very felicitous expression since it not only signies the ,

energy which the system has not in ac t ual possession ,

but only has the power to acquire but it also indicates ,

its co n nexion with what has been called ( on other

grounds ) the Potential Fu c ti I n on .

The di ff erent forms in which energy has been found

to exist in material sys t ems have been placed in one or
other o f these two classes7 Kinetic Energy due to ,

motion and Potential Energy due to conguration

, , .

Thus a hot body by giving ut heat to a colder body ,

o ,

may be made to do work by causing the cold body t o

expand in opposition to pressure A material system .
,

therefo e in which there is a non uni form distribution

r ,
-

of temperature has the capacity of doing work energy , or .

This energy is now believed to be kinetic energy due to ,

a mot on f agitation in the smallest parts f the hot body

i o o

Gunpowder has ener gy fo when red it is capable p ,

r

o f sett ng a cannon ball

i motion The energy o f gun -
In .

powder is C hemical Energy arising from the power ,

which the constituents of gunpowder possess o f

arranging themselves in a new manner when exploded ,

so as to occupy a much larger volume than the gun

powder does In the present state o f science chemis ts
.

gure to themselves chemical action as a rearrangement

o f particles under the action o f forces tending to produce

Berlin 8 4 7 t r nsl ted in T yl r s S i ti Al m i F eb

1 : a a a o

c en c e o rs ,

[ R em rk b le m inly f its wide r mi c ti ns int elect r ic

, .

1 85 3 a a a or a a o o
d chemic l the ry )
.

an a o
f D niel Be rn ulli c nt r sted wit h
.

1 Th i p te i liv s o en t a s o a o as o a
the c se f bent sp ring ; c f E ule r D G i
,

i i
v s v va , g f e or a o a e a rv s

in A ppen d ix t S l t P bl m ti
. . .
,

El t i as i c s, o o u zo ro e a s

( 744 i
I

i The te r m P tenti l w empl yed independentl y by G uss

o a as o a

an d by G reen d p r b bly rig n ted with D B ern ulli

, an so o a o i a . o .
78 O N E N ERG Y [CH v .

this cha ge of arrangement From this point of view

n .
,

therefore chemical energy is potential energy

, .

Ai compressed in the chamber of an air gun is

r, -

capable of propelling a bulle t The energy f com . o

pressed air was t one t ime supposed to arise from th

a e

mutu al repulsion f its particles I f this explan t ion

o . a

were the true its energy would be potential energy

one .

I n more recent times it has been thought that th e

p articles of the air are in a sta t e f motion and that o ,

t pressure is caused by the impact of these particles

i s

on the sides f the vessel According to this theo y

o . r

the energy of compressed air kinetic energy is .

There are thus many di ff erent modes in which a

material system may possess energy and it may be ,

doubtful in some cases whether the energy is of the

kine t ic or the potential fo m The na t ure of energy
r .
,

however is the same in whatever form it may be found

, .

The quantity f energy can always be expressed as

o

e q uated t that of a body of a denite mass moving wi th

o

a denite velocity .
 CH AP TER VI

RE CAP I T U LAT I O N
RET ROSPE CT OF AB S TRA CT D YNAM I CS
98 .

WE have now gone through that part o f the funda

mental science f the motion f matter which we have
o o

been able to treat in a manner sufciently elementary

to be consistent with the plan o f this book .

It remains for us to take a general View o f the rela

tions between the parts o f this science and o f the whole ,

to other physical sciences and this we can now do in ,

a more satisfactory way than we could before we had

entered into the subject .

99 K I N E M A TI
. C S
We began with kinematics or the science f pure , o

motion I n this division o f the subj ect the ideas brought

.

before us are those f space and time The only ttri

o . a

bute o f matter which comes be fore us is its continuity

of existence in space and time the fact namely that

, ,

every particle o f matter at any instant o f time is in

, ,

o e place and I n
n n only and tha t its change of place
o e ,

during any interval o f t me is accomplished by mov i ng

i

along a continuous path .

N either the force which affects the motion f the o

body o the mass o f the body o which the amount of

, n r ,
n

force re q uired to produce the motion depends come ,

under our notice in the pure science of motion .

O RCE 1 00 . F
I n the next division o f the subject force is considered
in the aspect of that which alters the motion o f a mass .

If we conne o u atten t ion to a single body o u i

r ,
r n

ve s ti tio n enables us from observation o f i t s motion to

a
g , ,
80 O R CE AN D S TRE S S
F [C H .

determine the direction and m gnitude of the resul tant a

force which acts it and this investigation is the

on ,

exemplar and type of all researches undertaken for the

purpose of the discovery and measurement of physical
forces .

But this may be regarded as a mere application of

the de nition f a force and not as a new physical
o ,

truth .

I t is when we come to dene equal forces as those

which produce equal rates f acceleration in the same o

mass and equal masses as those which are equally

,

accelerated by equal forces that we nd that t hese ,

denitions of equality amount t the assertion of the o

physical truth that the comparison of quanti ties of

,

matter by the forces required to produce in them a given

acceleration is a method which always leads to con
sistent results whatever be the absolute values f t he
,
o

forces and the accelerations .

S T RESS 101 .

The next step in the science f force is that in whi ch o

we pass from the considera t ion f a force as acting on o

a body t that f its being one aspect f that mu tu al

, o o o

action between two bodies which is called by N e wt on ,

Action and Reaction and which is now more b riefly ,

expressed by the single word S tress .

10 2 R ELATI V IT Y OF D YNAM I CAL KN OWL E D G E

.

O ur whole progress up to this point may be described

as a gradual development f the doctrine f relativity of o o

all physical phenomena Positi n we must evidently . o

acknowledge to be relative f we cannot describe the ,

or

pos t on o f a bod y any terms which do t express

i i In no

relation The rdin ry language about motion and rest

. o a

does not so completely exclude th no t ion f their being e o

measured absolutely but the reason of this that n ,

Is , I

our ordinary language we tacitly assume that the e rth a

I s at rest .
 VI ] RE LATI V IT Y OF F O RCE 81

As our ideas o f space and motion become clearer we ,

come to see how the whole body o f dynamical doctrine

hangs together I one consistent system n .

O ur pr mitive notion may have been that to know

i

absolutely where we are and what direction we are , In

going are essent al elements o f our knowledge as con

,
i

scious beings .

But this notion though undoubtedly held by many ,

wise men in ancient times has been gradually dispelled ,

from the minds f students f physics o o .

There are no landmarks in space ; one portion of

space is exactly like every other portion so that we ,

cannot tell where we are W are as it were n an . e , , o

unr ufe d sea without stars compass soundings wind

, , , , ,

or tide and we cannot tell what d e Ct OIl we are

,
In ll

going W have no log which we can cast o ut to take

. e

a dead reckoning by ; we may compute our rate of

motion with respect to the neighbouring bodies but ,

we do not know how these bodies may be moving in

space .

1 03 RE LA TI V IT Y OF F O RCE .

We cannot even tell what force may be acting o n us ;

we can only tell the di fference between the force acting
o n o e thing and that acting another " on
n .

We have an actual example of this In our every day -

experience The earth m oves round the sun in a year

.

at a distance of 9 miles o 1 4 7 3 x 0 1 ,
r 1
13

centimetres ] It follows from this that a force 3 exerted

. 1

on the earth n the direction of the sun which produces

I ,

an acceleration of the earth in the direction of the sun

of about 0 0 9 in feet and seconds or about o f the
1 , l
intensity o f gravity at the earth s surface
.

A force equal to the sixteen hundredth part of the -

weight of a body might be easily measured by known

experimental methods especially i f the direction of this ,

See A ppendix I ; especi lly p 4 3 a 1

T M re m de rn v lues
. .

o o9 8 miles 49 4 x
a cm a re
-
2 x 1 07 , or 1 1 10
13
.

M . 6
82 U N I VER SAL IT Y O F
G R AV ITATI O N [C H .

force were di fferently inclined to the vertical at di fferent

hours f the day o .

N w if the attraction f the sun were exert ed upon

o , o

t he solid part of the eart h as dis t inguished from th , e

movable bodies on which we experiment a body sus ,

pended by a s t ring and moving wi t h the earth would , ,

indicate the difference between t he solar action on the

body and t hat on the ear t h as a whole
, .

I f f r example the sun attracted t he ear t h and not

,
o ,

th e suspended body then at sunrise th e point o f sus ,

pension which is rigidly connected with t he earth

, ,

would be drawn towards the sun while t he suspended ,

body would be acted o only by t he earth s attrac t ion n

and the string would appear to be deflec t ed away from

the sun by a Sixteen hundredth p r t of t he length of -
a

t he string At sunset t he s t ring would be deected away

.

from the setting sun by an e ual amoun t ; and as the

sun sets at a different point 0 the comp ss from th at a

at which he rises the d xio of the st i ng would be e e ns r

in different directions and t he difference in t he position ,

of the plumb line at sunrise and sunse t would be easily

-

observed .

But instead of this th e attraction of gravita tion is ,

exerted upon all kinds f mat t er equally a t the same o

distance from the at trac t ing body At sunrise and .

sunset the centre of the earth and t he suspended body

are nearly at the same dist nce from the sun and no a ,

d xio n f the plumb line due to t he sun s a tt rac t ion

e e o -

can be obse ved at these t imes The a ttrac t ion o f th

r . e

sun t here fore in so far as it is exer t ed e q ually upon all

, ,

bodies the ear t h produces no e ff ec t t heir relative

on ,
on

moti ons I t is only the di ff erences f t he intensity d

. o an

direc t ion f the a tt rac t ion ac ting

o di ff erent parts of on

the earth which can produce any c t and t hese c e ,

di ff erences are small f bodies a t modera t e distances

so or

tha t i t is only when t he body ac t ed n is very large as o ,

in the case f t he ocean that their e ff ect becomes per

o ,

c ptib l in the f rm of t ides

e e o .
84 RE LATI V ITY [OH .

The distances betw een the bodies composing the

universe whether celestial r terrestrial and the angl es
, o ,

between the lines joining them are all that can be ,

ascertained without an appeal to dynamical principles ,

and these will n o t be a ff ected if any motion o f rotation

of the w h ole system si m ilar to that of a rigid body
,

about an axis is combined with the actual mot on ; so

,
i

that from a geometrical point of view the Coperni can

system according to which the earth ro t ates has no
, ,

advantage except that f simplicity over that in which

, o ,

the earth is supposed to be at rest and t he apparent ,

motions f the heavenly bodies t o be their absolute

o

motions .

Even if we go a step further and consider the dyna ,

mical theory o f the earth rotating round its axis we ,

may account f its oblate gure and for t he e q ui

or ,

librium o f the ocean and of all o t her bodies on its

surface o n either of two hy p otheses that of the motion
o f the earth round its ax s or that o f the earth not i ,

rotating but caused to assume its obla t e gure by a

,

force acting ou twards in all di rections from i t s axis the ,

intensity o f this force increasing as the distance from

the axis incre ases S uch a force if it acted on all
.
,

kinds f matter alike would account not only f the

o ,
or

oblateness o f the ear t h s gure but for the conditions

of equilibrium of all bodies at rest with respec t to the

earth.

It s only when we go further still and consider the

I ,

phenomena of bodies which are in motion wi t h respect

t o the earth that we are really constrained to admi t
"
,

that the earth rotates .

I O5 N EW T ON S D ET ERM I NA TI ON OF T HE AB SOLU T E
.

V E LO C IT Y OF RO T A TI ON
N ewton was the rst to point out that the absolute
motion of rotation f the earth might be demonstrated
o

by experiments on the rota tion of a materi al system .

A s in A rt 5 See ls A ppen d ix I p 4
. 10 . a o , . 1 2
.
V I] AB S O L U TE
R O TATI O N 85

Fo r instance if a bucket of water is suspended from a

,

b eam by a string and the string twisted so as to keep

,

the bucket spinning round a vertical axis the water ,

will soon spin round at the same rate as the bucket so ,

that the system f the water and the bucket turns round
o

its axis like a solid body .

The water in the spinning bucket rises up at the

Sides and I s depressed n the middle showing that In
,
I ,

order to make it move in a circle a pressure must be

exerted towards the axis This concavi ty o f the surface
.

depends on the absolute motion o f rotation of the water

and not on its relative rotation .

F or instance it does n t depend

,
the rotation o on

relative to the bucket F or at the beginning o f the

.

experiment when we set the bucket spinning and

, ,

before the water has take n up the motion the water ,

and the bucket are in relative motion but the surface ,

o f the water is at because the water is not rotating

, ,

but only the bucket .

W hen the water and the bucket rotate together ,

there is n o motion f the one relative to the other but

o ,

the surface f the water is hollow because it is rotating

o , .

When the bucket is stopped as long as the water ,

continues to rotate its surface remains hollow showing ,

that it is still rotating though the bucket is not .

It is manifestly the same as regards this experiment , ,

whether the rotation b e in the direction of the hands

of a watch or the opposite direction provided the rate ,

o f rotation is the same .

N ow let us suppose this experiment tried at the

N orth P ole L et the bucket be made by a proper
.
,

arrangement of clockwork to rotate either in the di e c , r

tion o f the hands o f a watch in the opposite direction ,

or ,

at a per fectly regular rate .

If it is made to turn round by clockwork once in

twenty four hours ( sidereal time ) the way of the hands
-

of a watch laid face upwards it will be rotating as ,

regards the earth but t rotating as regards the stars

, no .
86 TE S T O F E ARTH S R O TATI O N [CH

.

I f the clockwork is stopped it will rotate wi th ,

respect to the sta rs but not wi t h respect to the earth , .

Finally if it is made to tu rn round once in twen ty

,

four hours ( sidereal time ) in the opposite direction it ,

will be rotating with r espect to t he earth at t he same

rate as at rst but instead o f bein g free from ro t tion
, a

as respec ts the stars it will be ro t ating at the rate of one ,

tu rn in twelve hours .

Hence if the earth is at rest and the stars moving ,

round it the form of the surface will be the s ame in the

,

rst and last case ; but if the earth is rota ting th e ,

water will be rotating in the last cas e but not in th e

rst and this will be made mani fest by the water rising
,

higher at the sides in the last case than in t he rs t .

The surface o f the water will o t be really concave n

in any o f the cases supposed for t he effec t of gravity ,

acting towards the centre o f the ear th is to m ake th e

surface convex as the surface o f the sea is and th e, ,

rate o f rotation in our experiment is not su fficien t ly

rapid to make the surface concave I t will only make .

it Slightly less convex than the surface of t he sea in the

last case and slightly more convex in the rs t
,
.

But the di ff erence in the form f t he su rface o f o

the water would be so exceedingly small that wi th our ,

methods o f measurement it would be hopeless to

attempt t determine the rotation of the ear th in this
o

way .

FOU C AUL T S PENDULUM

1 06 .

The m st satisfact ry meth d f making an e xp ri

o o o o e

ment f t his purpose is t ha t devised by M F oucault

or . .

A heavy ball is hung from a xed poin t by a wire so ,

that it is capable f s winging like a pendulum in any o

vertical pl ne passing through t he xed point

a .

N w d ys t h e ity f di recti n in sp ce f t h e pl ne f
o a a x o o a o a o
r t ti n f r pidly spinning wheel freely piv ted met h d
o a o o a a o a o
ls ri gin ted by F uc ult w uld reve l it m st r d ily C f
, ,

a o o a o a o a o ea
Art 7 T h e g r st tic c mp ss inte r ct with the e rth s r t
. .
,
'
. 1 . y o a o a a s a o a
ti no t h e s me p i p l
, on a r ncu e .
88 E N E RG Y I S F U ND AM E N TAL [C H .

We have only to draw a line on the ea rth parallel

to the plane of vibration and to compare t he position ,

of this line with that of t he plane of vib ation at a r

subsequent time .

As a pendulum of this kind properly suspended will

swing for several hours it is easy t o ascertain whether ,

the position of the plane of vibration is constan t as

regards the ear t h as i t would be if the earth is at res t
, ,

or constant as regards the sta rs if the s t ars do not move ,

round the earth .

We have supposed fo the sake f simp licity in th e , r o

descrip t ion tha t the experiment is made at th e N orth

,

P ole
. It is not necessary to go there in order to
demonstrate the rotation of the ea t h The only region r .

where the experiment will n o t show it is at t he equator .

At eve y other place the pendulum will indicate th e

r

rate o f rotation o f t he earth with res pec t t o the vertical

line at that place If at any instan t t he plane of th e
.

pendulum passes through a star near the hori on ei th er z

rising o r setting it will con t inue to pass t hrough that

,

star as long as it is near the hori z on That is to say .

,

the hori ontal part of the apparent motion of a star on

z

the hori z on is e q ual to the rate of rotation of th e pl ane

o f vibration of the pendulum .

I t has been observed that the plane of vib ation r

appears to rotat e in t he opposite direc tion in t he

sou t hern hemisphere and by a comp arison of t he t es
,
ra

at various places the actual time f ro t t ion of t he earth o a

has been deduced without re ference t o a t ron mica l s o

obse vations The mean value as deduced from t hese

r .
,

experiments by M essrs G albraith and Haugh t on in

their M u l f A tr my is 2 3 h urs 5 3 minu t es
an a o s on o ,
o

3 7 seconds The t ru e t ime of ro t t ion f t he earth is

. a o

2 3 hou rs 5 6 minutes
4 seconds mean solar t ime .
 V I] TE S T O F A S U B S T AN CE 89

EN ERG Y
1 07 . M A TT ER AN D "

All that we know about matter relates to the series

of phenomena in which energy is transferred from n e o

portion o f matter to ano t her till in some part of the ,

series our bodies are a ff ected and we become conscious ,

o f a sensation .

By the mental process whi ch is founded on such

sensations we come to learn the conditions f these o

sensations and to trace them to objects which are not

,

part f ourselves but in every case the fact that we

o ,

learn is the mutual action between bodies This .

mutual action we have endeavoured to describe in this

treatise U nder various aspects it is called F orce
.
,

Action and Reaction and S tress and the evidence of , ,

it is the change o f the motion o f the bodies between

which it acts .

The process by which stress produces change o f

motion is called Work and as we have already shown , , ,

work may be considered as the transference f Energy o

from o n body system to another

e or .

Hence as we have said we are ac quainted with

, ,

matter only as that which may have energy communi

c at d to it from other matter
e and which may in its , ,

turn communicate energy to other matter

,
.

Energy on the other hand we know only as that

, ,

which in all natural phenomena is continually passing

from one portion o f matter to another .

TES T OF A M A TERI AL S U B S T AN CE
1 08 .

Energy cannot exist except in co nexion with matter n .

Hence since in the space be t ween the sun and the earth
, ,

the luminous and thermal radiations which have left ,

the sun and which have not reached the earth possess ,

energy the amount o f which per cubic mile can be

,

measured this energy must belong to matter existing

,

See A ppendix I I .
90 E N ERG Y I S RE LATI VE [ C H .

in the interplanetary spaces and since it is only by the ,

light which reaches us that we become aware o f th e

existence of the most remote st rs we conclude t ha t a ,

the matter which transmits light s disseminated through I

the whole of the visible universe .

EN ERG Y NO T C APAB L E OF ID EN TI F I CA TI ON
10
9 .

We cannot identify a particular port ion f energy r o , o

trace it through its transformations It has no individual .

existence such as that which we at t ribute to pa ticular

, r

portions of matter .

The transactions Of the ma t erial u niverse appear t o

be conducted as it were on a system f credit E ach

,
"
,
o .

transaction consis t s of the transfer of so much credit

o energy from one body to ano t her This act of
r .

transfer or payment is called work The energy so .

transfe rred does n t retain any char cter by which it

o a

can be identied when it passes from one form to

another .

1 10 . AB SOLU T E VALU E
OF T HE EN ERG Y OF A BODY
UN KNOWN
The energy f a material system can only be esti
o

mated in a relative manner .

I n the rst place though the energy f the mo tion

,
o

of the par t s rela t ive t t he centre of mass of the sys t em

o

may be accurately dened t he whole energy c nsists ,

o

of this t ogether with the energy of a mass e q ual to that

of t he wh le system moving wi t h the velocity of the
o

cen t re f mass N w this latter velocity t hat of th e

o . o

centre f mass c n be estimated only wi t h reference to

o a

some b dy ex t erna l to the sys t em and t he value which

o ,

we assign t this velocity will be different according to

o

the b dy which we selec t as our rigin

o o .

Hence the estima t ed kinetic energy f a material o

E xcept pe rh ps th t c redit be rti ci lly incre ed

a a ca n a a as , or
in ted a .
 CH AP TER VI I

T HE P E N DU L U M AN D G R AV T Y I
1 13 N I FO RM M O TI ON I N A C I RC L E
. ON U
L ET M ( g 1 1 ) be a body moving in a circle with
.

velocity V .

L et OM be the radius f the circle

r o .

The direction o f the velocity

o f M is tha t o f t he ta gent to n

t he circle D raw O V parallel to .

this direction through the centre

of the circle and e q ual to th e
dis tance described in unit f time o

with velocity V then C V = V , .

I f we take 0 as the origin of

the diagram of velocity V will ,

represent t he veloci ty f the o

body at M .

F ig As the body moves round the

1 1 .

circle the point V will lso , a

describe a circle and the velocity of the point V wi ll

,

be t o tha t o f "
as C V to O M .

I f t herefore we draw 0 A in M O produced and

, , ,

therefore parallel to the direc t ion f m ti n of V and o o o ,

make C A a third pro por t ional to 0 111 and C V and ,

if we assume 0 as the origin of t he diagram f rate f o o

accelera t i n then the poin t A will represen t the veloci ty

o ,

o f the p int V
o what is the same t hing t he rate of
,
o r, ,

accelerati n f the point A4

o o .

Hence when a b dy m ves wi t h uni fo rm velocity in

, o o

a circle its accele a tion is directed towards the centre

,
r

of the circle and is a third prop r t ional to the radius

,
o

of the circle and t he velocity f t he body o .

The force acting n t he b dy [ W is e q ual to the o o

ca m ] CE N TR I FU GAL FO RCE 93

product f this acceleration into the mass

o of the body ,

or if F be this force

C EN T RI FU G AL F O RCE
1 14 .

This force F is that which must act on the body M

in order to keep it in the circle f radius in which o r,

i t is moving with veloci ty V .

The direction o f this force is towards the centre of

the circle .

I f this force is applied by means o f a string fastened

to the body the string will be in a state o f tension
,
.

To a person holding t he other end o f the string this

tension will appear to be directed towards the body M ,

as if the body M had a tendency to move away from the

centre of the circle which it is describing .

Hence this latter force is often called Centrifugal

F orce .

The force which really acts o the body being directedn ,

towards the centre f the circle is called Centripetal

o ,

F orce and in some popular treatises the centripetal

,

and centrifugal forces are described as opposing and

balancing each o t her But they are merely the di fferent
.

aspects o f the same stress [ acting in the string] .

5 OD I
1 1 C T.I MPERI
E

The time of describing the circumference o f the circle

is called the Periodic Time I f represents the rati
. 77 o

o f the circum ference o f a circle to its diameter which ,

is 3 1 4 1 5 9 the circum ference o f a circle f radius

. o r

is 2 ; and since this is described in the periodic time T

771

with velocity V we have ,

Hence F 477 M
2
94 H A R M O N I C V IBRA TI O N S [C H .

The rate f circular motion is often expressed by th e

o

number of revolutions in uni t o f time Le t th is number .

[ the frequency ] be denoted by n t hen ,

n T= 1

F :
4 77
2
M rn 2
.

1 16 . O N S I MPL E
HARMON IC V I B RA TI ONS
I f while the body M ( g 1 1 ) moves in a circle wit h .

uniform velocity another point P moves in a xed

diameter of t he circle so as to be always at the foo t
,

of the perpendicular from M on t ha t diameter th e ,

body P is said to execu t e Simple Harmo n ic V ib ra tions .

The radius of the circle is called t he Amplitu de of

,
r,

the vibra t ion .

The periodic time of Al is called the Periodic Time

of V ibration .

The angle which O M makes wi t h t he pos i tive

directi n o f the x ed diameter is called the Phas e of
o

the vibration .

1 17 . O RC E A CTI N G ON T HE
ON T HE F
V I B RA TI N G BODY
The only difference between th e motions of M and
P is that M has a vertical motion compounded wi th
a hori z ontal motion which is t he same as that of P .

Hence the velocity and the accelerati n of th e two bodi es o

di ff er only with respect to the vertical part of th e

velocity and accelera tion of M .

The acceleration of P is therefore th ho iz onta l e r

componen t of tha t f M and since t he acceleration

o ,

of AI is represen t ed by OA which is in t he direc tion ,

of M O pr duced the acceleration of P will be r pre

o ,
e

sented by OB where B is the foo t f t he perpendicular

,
o

from A ont he hori z ontal diameter N ow by sim ilar .

triangles OM P OAB ,

Oll l OP OB .
96 P O TE N TI AL E N ERG Y O F A V I B RAT O R [ CH .

1 19 O T EN TI AL EN ERG Y OF T HE V I B RATI N G BODY

. P
The velocity o f the body when it pass e s thr ough the
point of equilibrium is equal to that f the body mo ving o

in the circle or ,

V 2 7rrn ,

where r is the amplitude of vibration and is the n

number of double Vibrations per s e cond .

Hence the kine t ic energy of the vibra t ing body at

the point of equilibrium is
MV
A 2
2 71
2
M 2 2
r n ,

where M is the mass o f the body .

At the extreme elongation where x r the veloci ty , , ,

and therefore the kinetic energy f the body is ze ro , o .

The diminution o f kinetic energy must correspond to

an equal increase f potential energy Hence if we
o .

reckon the potential energy from the con guration in

which the body is at its point of equilibrium its ,

potential energy when at a distance r from this point

is 2 M
77
2 2 2
n r .

This is the potential energy of a body which vibrates

isochronously and executes n double vibrations per
,

second when it is at rest at the distance from the ,

r,

point o f equilibrium As the potential energy d o es not

.

depend on the motion o f the body but only on its ,

pos tion we may write it

i ,

2 77 Mn
2 2
x
2
,

where x is the distance from the p int of equilib ium o r .

MPL E PENDULUM
1 20 . T HE S I
The simple pendulum consists of a small heavy body
called the b b suspended from a xed point by a ne
o ,

string o f invariable length The bob is supposed to .

be so small that its motion may be treated as that of a

material particle and the string is supposed to be so
,
vn ] TI M E O F V IBRATI O N 97

ne that we may neglect its mass and weight The .

bob is set in motion so as to swing through a small

angle in a vertical plane Its path therefore is an arc .
, ,

o f a circle whose centre is the point o f suspension

, ,

O and whose radius is the lengt h of the string whi ch

, ,

we shall denote by I .

L et 0 ( g 1 2 ) be the point .

of suspension and OA the

position of the pendulum when
hanging vertically W hen the .

b b is at M it is higher than
o

when it is at A by the height

AM 2

AP =
AB
where AM is the
chord o f the arc AM and
AB 21 .

If M be the mass of the bob F ig

and g the intensi ty of gravity . 12 .

the weight f the bob will be Mg and the work done

o

ag inst gravity during the motion of the bob from A

a

to M will be MgAP This therefore is the potential .

, ,

energy of the pendulum when the bob is at M reckon .

,

ing the energy z ero when the bob is at A .

We may write this energy

g AM ?
21

The potential energy o f the bo b when displaced

through any are varies as the square of th e chord of
that ar e .

If it had varied as the s quare of the arc itself in

which the bob moves the vibrations would have been ,

strictly isochronous As the potential energy varies

.

more slowly than the s q uare o f the are the period f , o

each Vibration will be greater when the ampli tude is

greater .

F o r very small vibrations however we may neglect , ,

the d ffere n c e between the chord and the arc and

I ,

M .
7
98 S I M PL E P E ND U L U M [C H .

denoting the are by x we may write the potential

energy Mg 2
x
21

But we have already shown that in harmonic vibrations

the potential ener gy 13 2 M n x 7r
2 2 2

E q uating these two expressions and clear ng fractions i

we nd
g
where g is the intensity o f gravity is the ratio o f the ,
7

circumference of a circle to its diameter is the number ,

71

o f vibrations of the pendulum in unit of time and I is ,

the length o f the pendulum .

121 . R I GI D PE NDULUM
A
If we could construct a pendulum with a bob so
small and a string so ne that it might be regarded
for practical purposes as a Simple pendulum it would ,

be easy to determine g by this method But all real .

pendulums have bobs of considerable si e and in z ,

order to preserve the length invariable th e bob must be

connected with the point o f suspension by a stout rod ,

the mass o f which cannot be neglected I t is always .

possible however to determine the length o f a simple

, ,

pendulum whose vibrations would be executed in the

same manner as those o f a pendulum of any shape .

The complete discussion o f this subject would lead

us into calculations beyond the limits of this treatise .

We may however arrive at the most important result

, ,

wi t hout calculation as follows .

The motion o f a rigid body in one plane may be

completely de ned by stating the motion of its centre
o f mass, and the motion o f the body round its centre
o f m ass
.

The force required to produce a given change in the

m o tI o n o f the centre o f mass depends only on the mass
of the bod y (Art .
1 00 CE N TRE OF O S CI LLATI O N ( ca .

I NV E RSI ON OF T HE PE NDULUM
1 22 .

N ow let us suppose the system of two p ar ticl e s

inverted Q being made the point f suspens on and
, o i

P being made to swing We have w a simple pen . no

dulum of the same length as before I ts vibrations .

will there fore be executed in the same time Bu t it .

is dynamically e q uivalent to t he pendulum suspended

by its centre f oscillation o .

Hence if a pendulum be inverted and suspended by

its centre o f oscillation i t s vibrations will have t he
same period as before and the distance bet ween th e ,

centre of suspension and that o f oscillation w ill be

equal to that of a simple pendulum having t he same
time o f vibration .

It was in this way that Captain Kater determined

the length o f the simple pendulum which vibrates
seconds .

He constructed a pendulum which could be made to

vibrate about two knife edges opposi t e sides of the ,
on

centre of mass and at un qual distances from it e .

By certain adjustments he made the ti me of vibra ,

tion the same whether the o knife edge or the o t her ne

were the centre of suspension The ]l ength o f th e .

corresponding simple pendulum was then found by

measur ing the distance between the knife edges .

I LLUS T RA TI ON OF KA TE R S PENDULUM
12
3 .

The principle of Kater s Pendulum may be illus

t at d by a very simple and striking experiment Take

r e .

a flat b ard f any form ( g

o o and d rive a piece of .

wire t hrough it nea its edge and allow it to h an g in

r ,

a ver t ical plane holding t he ends of t he wi re by th e

,

nger and t humb Take a small bullet fasten it to the

.
,

end o f a thread and llow the thr ead to pass over th ea

wire so that the bullet hangs close to the boar d M ove

, .

the hand b which you hold the wire horiz on tally in

the plane 0 the board and observe whether the board ,
V I I] M E AS U RE M E N T O F G RAV IT Y 101

moves fo wards backwards with respect to the bullet

r or .

If it moves forwards lengthen the string if backwards ,

shorten it till the bullet and the board move together

N ow mark the point f the board opposite the centreo

of the bullet and fasten the string to the

wire Y ou will nd that if you hold the
.

wire by the ends and move it in any

manner however sudden and irregular
, ,

in the plane o f the board the bullet will ,

never quit the marked spot n the board o .

Hence this spot is called the centre o f

oscillation because when the board is
,

oscillating about the wire when

xed it
oscilla t es as if it consisted of a single
particle placed at the spot .
F g 4 l 1

It is also called the centre of percussi on because if ,

the board is at rest and the wire is suddenly moved

hori ontally th e board will at rst begin to rotate about
z

the spot as a centre .

1 24 .D ET ERM I NA TI ON OF T HE IN TE NS IT Y OF GRAV IT Y
The most direct method of determining g is no ,

doubt to let a body fall and nd what velocity it has

,

gained in a second but it is very di ffi cult to make accu

,

rate obse vations of the motion o f bodies when their

r

velocities are so great as 9 8 centimetres per second 1 ,

and besides the experiment would have to be conducted

,

in a vessel from which the air has been exhausted as ,

the resistance o f the air to such rapid motion is very

considerable compared with the weight of the falling
,

body .

The experiment with the pendulum is much more

satisfactory By making the arc f Vibration very small
. o ,

the motion o f the bob becomes so slow that the resist

ance o f th air can have very little inuence on the time
e

o f vibration I n the best experiments the pendulu m

.

is s vm g in an air tight vessel from which the air is

n -

exhausted .
1 02 MO D E OFC O U N TI N G V IBRATI O N S [C H .

Besides this the motion repeats itself and th e pen

, ,

dulum s win to and f hundreds or even thou s ands

of times befd the various resistances to which it is
ro , ,

re

exposed reduce the amp litude f the vibratio n s till they o

can no longer be obse ved r .

Thus the actual obse va t ion consists not in wa t ching

r

the beginning and end of n e vibra t ion bu t in deter o ,

mining the duration f a series o f many hundred o

vibrations and t hence deducing the t ime of a single

,

vibration .

The observer is relieved from t he labour o f coun t ing

the whole number of vibrations and the measuremen t ,

is made o n e f the most accurate in t he whole range of

o

practical science by the following me t hod .

1 25 M ETH OD OF O B S ERVA TI ON
.

A pendulum clock is placed behind th e experimenta l

pendulum so that when both pendulums e hanging
,
ar

vertically the bob or some other par t f the e xpe i

,
o r

mental pendulum just hides a white spot on the clock

,

pendulum as seen by a telescope xed at some distan c e

,

in front o f the clock .

O bservations of the transit of clock s tars across

the meridian are made from time to t ime and from

these the rate of the clock is deduced in terms of

mean solar time .

The experimental pendulum is then set a swinging ,

and the two pendulums are obse ved t hrough the r

telescope L et us suppose t hat t he t ime of a Single

.

vibration not exactly that of the clock pendulum but

Is ,

a little more .

The bserver at the telescope sees the clock pendulum

o

always gaining n the experimental pendulum till at

o ,

last the experimental pendulum jus t hides the white

spot on the clock pendulum as it crosses t he vertica l
line The time at which this takes place is observed
.

and rec rded as the F irs t P si t ive C oincidence

o o .

The clock pendulum con t inues to gain on the other ,

10
4 E RI O D O F PE N D U L U M
P [CH V I I .

second we note do wn the last coincidence as

place N 1 seconds after the rst The value of T as
.

deduced from this result would be

N + 1

N + 1

and the error introduced by the mistake of a second

will be N 1
'
T T
N+ 1 n N n
n

N n (N n

( + 1
) )
I f N is and n is 1 00 a mistake of n e s econd
,
o

in noting the tim e of coincidence will alter the value of

T only about one millionth par t o f its value
-
.
 CH AP TER VI I I

U NI V E R S AL G R AV T AT I I ON
S M ETH OD
1 27 . N EW T ON

T HE most instructive example of the method of dyn am i

cal reasoning is that by which N ewton determined
the law of the force with which the heavenly bodies act
on each other .

The process of dynam ical reasoning consists in

deducing from the successive con gurations of the
heavenly bodies as observed by astronomers their
, ,

velocities and their accelerations and in this way ,

determi ni ng the direction and the relative magnitude

of the force which acts n them o .

Kepler had already prepared the way for N ewton s

investigation by deducing from a care ful study o f the

observations o f Tycho Brahe the three laws of planetary
motion which bear his name .

KE PL ER S L AWS 1 28 .

Kepler s L aws are purely kinematical They com

.

ple te ly describe the motions of the planets but they say ,

nothing about the forces by which these motions are

determ ined .

Their dyna m ical interpretation was discovered by

N ewton .

The rst and second laws relate to the motion o f a

single planet .

L aw I The areas swept o ut by the vector drawn

.

from the sun to a planet are proportional to the times

of describing them I f [ denotes twice the area swept
. 1

out in unit o f time twice the area swept out in time t

,

will be h t and if P is the mass o f the planet P h t will

, ,

be the mass area as dened in Article 6 8 Hence the

-

, .

angular momentum f the planet about the sun which o ,

 KE PL ER S F I R S T LAW

1 06
[ CH .

is the rate of change of the mass ar ea will be P h a -

, ,

constant quantity .

Hence by Article 70 the force if any which acts

, , , ,

o n the planet must have no moment with respect to

the sun for if it had it would increase or dimi nish the

,

angular momentum at a rate meas ured by the value of

this moment .

Hence whatever be the force which acts on the planet

, ,

the direction of this force must always pass th rough

the sun .

1 29 AN G ULA R V E LO CIT Y .

D enition The angular velocity o f a vector is the

.

rate at which the angle increases which it makes with

a xed vector in the plane of its motion .

If is the angular velocity o f a vec t or and r its length

co , ,

the rate at which it sweeps out an area is % w Hence r

2
.
,

2
h ca r

and since h is constant w the angular velocity of a , ,

planet s motion round the sun varies inversely as the

,

square of the distance from the sun .

This is true whatever the law o f force may be pro ,

V ide d the force acting o n the planet always passes

through the sun .

1 30 M O TI ON AB OU T T HE C EN T RE OF M ASS
.

S ince the stress between the planet and the sun acts
o n both bodies neither o f them can rem in at rest
,
a .

The only point whose

P
motion is not affected o
by the stress is the
F ig 5 centre f mass of the
, 1 ,
O

two bodies .

If r is the distance S P ( g and if G is the centre .

P S r r
o f mass S C , and CP S P The angular
S + P
'

+
S g
r
2
P 5 112

momentu m of P about C
Is Pw
P) 2
S Pl z

( S (
1 08 KE PL ER S S EC O ND LAW

[ CH .

KEPLE R S S EC OND LAW

133 .

L aw II Theorbi t of a planet with res ect to the

sun is an ellipse the sun being in n e of the fbc i
.

, o .

L et AP Q B ( g 1 6 ) be t he elliptic orbit L et S
. .

be the sun in o n e focus and let H be the other focus

, .

P roduce S P to U ,

so t hat S U is equal
t t he transverse o

axis AB d join ,
an

H U then H U will ,

be propo tional r

and perpen dicu lar

t o t he velocity a t P .

Fo bisect H U r

in Z and j oin Z P ;
Z P will be a ta n
gent to the ellipse
at P ; let S Y be
a perpendicular
from S on this
F ig 6 tangent .

. 1 .

If v is th e ve
lo c ity at P and it twi ce the area swept out in uni t of
,

time h o S Y
, .

Also if b is half the conjugate axis O f t he ellipse

S Y HZ . b z
.

E U= 2 HZ ;
1 h
hence 2 b 2

Hence H U is always proportional to t he velocity ,

and it is perpendicular t o its direc ti n N ow S U is o .

always e q ual to AB Hence the circle whose cen t re is

.

S and radius AB is the hodograph of t he plane t H ,

being the origin of t he hodograph .

The corresponding poin t s f the orbit and the hodo o

V I I I] LAW O F G RAV IT ATI O N 1 09

graph are those which lie in the same straight line

through S .

Thus P corresponds to U and Q to V .

The velocity communicated to the body during its

passage from P to Q is represented by the geometrical
di fference between the vectors H U and H V that is by , ,

the line U V and it is perpendicular to this a e of the

, r

circle and is therefore as we have already proved

, , ,

directed towards S .

If P Q is the a e described in [a very small] time then

r ,

U V represents the acceleration [ o f veloci ty in that time

and since U V is o a circle whose centre is S U V will
n ,

be a measure of the an g ular [ movement in that time] of

the planet about S Hence the acceleration is propor
.

tio al to the angular velocity and this by A t

n 2 9 is , r . 1

inversely as the s q uare o f the distance S P Hence the .

acceleration o f the planet is in the direction of the sun ,

and is inversely as the s q uare f the distance from the o

sun

.

This therefore is the law according to which the

, ,

attraction o f the sun o a planet varies as the planetn

moves in its orbit and alters its distance from the sun .

O RCE ON A P LAN ET
1 34 . F
AS we have already shown the orbit o f the planet ,

with respect to the centre o f mass o f the sun and

-

planet h as its dimensions in the ratio o f S to S P

to those of the orbit o f the planet with respect to the
sun .

If 2 and 2 b are the axes o f the orbit o f the planet

a

with respect to the sun the area is ab and if T is the, n ,

time o f going completely round the orbit the value o f ,

ab
1 IS 2
2 The
77 veloc ty W th respect to the sun s there
i i I
T
a
l
1 10 TH I R D LAW
KE PL ER S

[ CH .

Wi t h respect to the centre of mas s it is

S n o

S + P Tb
The total acceleration of the planet towards the cen tre
of mass [ in describing an arc P Q ] is
S vra
UV
S + P n
and the impulse on the planet Whose mass is P is
therefore
S + P Tb
L et be the time of describing P Q th en twice
t , th e
area S P Q is ht " our
?

} b
2
(1
UV= 2 aw t = 2a
: t 4 7r
7
t.

Hence the force on the planet [b eing impulse divided

F = 2 ' '

4 n
S P T z 2
r

This then is the value f the stress or a ttra c tion o

between a planet and t he sun in terms o f their masses

P and S their mean distance
, their actu al di stan ce r a , ,

and the periodic time T .

135 IN T ERP RE TA TI ON OF KE P LER s T H I RD LAW

.

T com are th e attrac tion between the sun and

o

diff erent p anets N ewt on made use o f Kepler s thi rd

,

law .

L aw I I I The squares of the periodic times of differ

.

ent planets are proportional to the cubes of their mean

3
a c
d i stances I n other words T s a co n stant say
.
3
I ,

SP 1
Hence F c
S + P 1 r
.
1 12 G RAV ITATI O N M U T U AL [C H .

U niversal Gravitation With the val ue of F formerl y

obtained we n d
SP SP a
3

C "
2
2 4 2 2
r S + P T r

= C
(S
2 8 2
477 a + P) T .

AM END ED FO RM
OF KE P LER s T H I RD LAW
1 37 .

Hence Kepler s Third L aw must be amended thus

The cubes o f the mean distances e as the squares ar

o f the times multip lied into the sum o f t he masses of

the sun and the planet .

In the case of the larger plan ets Jupiter S a turn etc , , , .

,

th e value of S P is considerably greater th an in

the case o f the earth and the smaller pl nets Hence a .

the periodic times of the larger planets should be some

what less than they would be according to Kepler s law

and this is found to be the case .

I n the following table the mean distanc es ( ) o f the a

planets are given in terms f the mean di s tan ce of th e o

earth and the periodic times ( T ) in terms of th e sidereal

,

year :
Pl net a T (1
" 7 a
"

M e cu ry 33 8 7 9 8
r 04 8 508 6 5 8
0 2 9
3 0 4 0 0 00 4 0 0 00 4 o 'oo oo oo
V enus 7 3 3 3 6 5 8
0 13 3 78 5 3 78 5 3
0 1 1 0 4 1 0 4
-
o ooo oo z
-

E rth
a I oo o o
-
l OOOOO

I ooooo

I OOOOO

M rsa 6
5 3 9 8 8
1- 8 2
3 537 6 3 5 37 71 0 2 4 4
~
o oooo r

"upite 5 78
r I 86I8-
20 2 | 7
~
3 1 40
-

01 +0 1 1

S tu rn 9 5 3 8 79 9 5 6 8 6 7 9
a 8 6 76 5 8
2 + 56
4 0 14 00
Ur nus 9 8
a 8
1
34 7 584 24 7 58 7 4 0 127 0 4 0 0 + 0

N eptune 3 3 7 6 6 6 7 0 0 7 98
1 4 1 2 1 00 0 2 0 4 1

It appears from t he table that Kepler s third law is

very nearly accurate for is very nearly e q ual to , a

3

but tha t f r t hose planets wh se mas s is less than that

o o

of the ear t h namely M ercury V enus and M ars a

3
, , ,

is less than T whereas for Jupiter Sa turn U ran us

2
, , , ,

a n d N eptu ne Whose mass is gr eater th an that of the

,

e arth a is greater than T

,
3
.
vm ] IT S P O TE N TI AL E N E RG Y 1 13

1 38 O TEN TI AL EN ERGY DU E To G RAV ITA TI ON

. P
The potential energy o f the gravitation between the
bodies S and P may be calculated when we know the
attraction between them in terms o f their distance .

The process o f calculation by which we sum up the

e ffects of a continually varying q uanti ty belongs to the
Integral Calculus and though in this case the calcula
,

tion may be explained by elementary methods we Shall ,

rather deduce the potential energy directly from Kepler s

rst and second laws .

These laws completely dene the motion of the sun

and planet and therefore we may nd the kinetic energy
,

o f the system corresponding to any part f the elliptic o

orbit N ow since the sun and plane t form a conserva

.
,

tive system the sum o f the kinetic and potential energies

,

is constant and therefore when we know the kinetic

,

energy we may deduce that part of the potential

energy which depends o n the distance between the
bodies .

13
9 K I N E TI C EN ER G Y OF T HE S YS T E M
.

T o determine the kinetic energy we observe that the

velocity f the planet with respect to the sun is by
o

Article 1 3 3
1 h
z
a b
The velocities of the planet and the sun with respect
to the centre o f mass o f the system are respectively
S P
S + P
v an I( f"
S + P
The kinetic energies of the planet and the sun are
there fore S 2
v
2
and is
(S
2
P)
and the whole kinetic energy is
1 SP 1 SP h 2
v _ HU 2
SS + P b

4
2 S + P
1 1
4 KI N ETI C
E N ERG Y I N O RBIT S [ C H .

To deter m ine [ more directly] v in terms of S P or 2

r,

we observe that b y the law of are as

6 5 Y = h

also by a property of the el lipse

HZ . SY = b2

and by the Si milar triangles HZ P and

SY HP r '

HZ SP 2a r
multiplying ( 2 ) and ( 3 ) we nd

2a r
Hence by ( 1 )
2 4
2 2 2
77 a b I 4
2 2
1r a 2a

T 2
S Y 2
T 2

and the kinetic energy of the system is

2 3
4 77 a SP 1

r T 2
S P
and this by the equation at the end of Article
becomes I
C SP .

T 20

Where C is the constant o f gravitation .

This is the value of the kinetic energy of the tw o

bodies S and P when moving [ relatively] n an ellipse I

o f which the transverse axis s 2 a i .

4 0
1 P O T E N.TI AL EN ERG Y OF T H E S YS T EM

The sum of th kine t ic and poten t ial energies is

e

constant but its absolute value is by Article 1 1 0 un

,

known and t necessary to be known

, no .

Hence if we [ conclude in accordance with the con ,

s tan c y
o f the total energy ] that the potential energy is
,

o f the form I
K C SP
1 16 L O C AL
G RAV ITATI O N [ c a

calculated for a distance e q ual to that of the m o on was

e q ual to the force required to keep th e moon in her
orbit .

He thus identied the force which acts between th e

earth and the moon with tha t which causes bodi es near
the earth s surf ce to fall towards the earth

a .

1 42 CAV END I S H S E X P ERI M EN T

.

Having thus shown that the force wi t h which the

heavenly bodies attract each other is of the same kind
as that with which bodies t hat we ca handle are n

att racted to the e rth it remained to be Shown that a ,

bodies such as we can handle at t rac t one ano ther .

The di fculty of doing this arises from t he fact t ha t

the mass o f bodies which we ca handle is so small n

compared with that f the earth t ha t even when we o ,

bring the two bodies as near as we can the at t raction

between them is an exceedingly small frac t ion o f the
weight o f either .

W cannot get rid of t he attrac t ion of t he earth but

e ,

we must arrange the experiment in such a way that it

interferes as little as is possible with t he e ff ects of the
attraction of the other body .

The appara tus devised by the Rev John M ichell for .

this purpose was that which has since received th e name

of the Torsion Balance M ichell died before he was able .

t o make the experiment but his apparatus aft e wards , r

came into the hands of Hen y C ve n dis h f who im

proved it in many respects a m e s u d t he attraction
a ,

, n a re

betw een [xed ] leaden balls and small balls suspended

from the arms of the balance A similar ins trument .

was aft e wards independen t ly inven t ed by C oul omb

r

for measuring sm ll electric and magne t ic forces and it

a ,

continues t be t he best ins trument known to science

o

for the measuremen t f small forces f all kinds o o .

O f Q ueens C llege C mb rid e W P f ess r f

'
d w di oo ar an ro o
G e l gy 76 4 S W m i by gi A G ei k ie C mb ri d ge 9 8
o . a , o
o o 1 2 -
ee c o r r a 1 1

1 O f P ete rh use C mb ridge

. . .
,
, , .

o S hi S i i Wii g
a ee s c en t c r t n s,
v l C mb ridge 9
.
,

2 o s , a , 1 20 .
V I I I] PR I N CI P L E OF TO RSI O N ROD 1 17

43 1 TO RS I
. ON B
T HE
AL AN C E
X

The Torsion Balance consists of a hori z ontal rod

suspended by a wire from a xed support W hen .

the rod is turned round by an external force in a

hori ontal plane it twists the wire and the wire being
z ,

elastic tends to resist this strain and to un twist itsel f .

This force of torsion is proportional to the angle

through which the wire is twisted so that if we cause ,

a force to act in a hori ontal direction at right angles

z

to the o d at its extremi ty we may by observing the

r , ,

angle through which the force is able to turn the rod ,

determine the magnitude o f the force .

The force is proportional to t he angle o f torsion and

to the fourth power f the diameter of the wire and i
o n

ve e ly to the length o f the

rs d and the length o f the wire
ro .

Hence by using a long ne wire and a long o d

,
r ,

we may measure very small forces .

I n the experiment of Cavendish two spheres of equal

m ass m are suspended from the ex
, ,

t e m itie s of the ro d o f the torsion

r

balance W shall for the present

. e

neglect the mass f the d in c o m o ro

parison with that of the spheres Two .

larger spheres of e q ual mass M are , ,

so arranged that they can be placed

either at M and M o at M and M r

.

.

I n the former position they tend by

their attraction n the smaller spheres
o ,

m and m to turn the o d f the balance

, r o

in the direction towards them In the .

latter position they thus tend t turn it o

in the opposite direction The torsion M .

balance and its suspended spheres are

enclosed in a case to prevent their , F ig 7 1
being disturbed by currents o f air
. .

The position of the rod o f the balance is ascertained

See i n fra , p . 1 43 .
1 18 EX PERI M E N TAL D ETE R M I N ATI O N [CH .

b y observing a graduated scale as seen by re e xio n in

a vertical mirror fastened to the middle of th e rod .

The balance is placed in a room by itse lf an d th e ,

observer does not enter the room but obse ves the , r

image o f the graduated sca le with a teles cope .

1 44 OF T HE E xP ERI M EN T
. M ETH OD
The time T of a double vibration of th to rsion
, , e

balance is rst ascertained and also the position of ,

equilibrium of the centres o f the suspended spheres .

The large spheres are then brought up to th e posi

tions M M so that the centre of each is at a distan ce
, ,

from the position o f equilibrium of the centre of the

suspended sphere .

N o attempt is made to wait till t he vibrations of the

beam have subsided but the scale divisions corre
,
-

s po din g to t he extremities of a single vib rati on are

n

observed and are found to be distant x and y re s pe c

,

tive lyfrom the position f equilib rium At these points

o .

the rod for an inst nt at rest so tha t its energy is

Is , a , ,

entirely po t ential and since the to t al ener is constant

, ,

the potential ener y corresponding to posi t ion x

must be e q ual to tgat corresponding to t he posi tion
N w if T be the time f a double Vi bration about
o o

point of e q uilib rium 0 t he p t ential energy due to

,
o

tors on when the scale reading s x is by Ar t cle 1 1 9

i i i

2 77 m
2

T 2

and that due to the gravitation between rn and A" s b y I

Article 1 40
mM
K C a x
 1 20 I E R SAL G RAV ITATI O N
UN V [ C H .

have also found that the gravita tion of equal m asses at

equal distances is the same whatever be the nature of
the ma t erial of which the masses consist This we .

ascertain by experiments on pendulums of di fferent

substances and also by a comparison of th e a t tra c ti on
,

o f the sun on different planets which are probably ,

not alike in composition The experiments of Baily ' .

o spheres o f different substances placed in the

n

torsion balance con rm this law .

S ince therefore we nd in so grea t a number of

, ,

cases occurring in regions remote from each other th at

the force of gravitation depends on the mass of bodies
only and not on their chemical nature or physical st te
, a ,

we are led to conclude that this is true for all substances .

F instance no man o f science doubts that two

or ,

portions of atmospheric air attract one another al though ,

we have very little hope that experimen t l meth ods a

will ever be invented so delicate as t o measure or even

to make manifest t his a t traction But we know that .

there is attraction between any portion of air an d the

earth and we nd by Cavendish s experiment that
,

gravitating bodies if o f su fficient mas s gra vitate , ,

sensibly towar ds each o ther and we conclude that ,

two portions of air gravitate towa ds each o ther But r .

it is still extremely doub tful whether t he medium of

light and electricity is a gravita ting substa nce though ,

it is certainly material and has m as s T .

1 46 CAUS E OF G RAV I TAT I ON .

N ewton in his P rincipi deduces from the observed

, a,

motions of the heavenl y bodies the fact tha t t hey attract

o n e ano ther according to a denite law .

A nd m re recently wi th extreme re nement by v "ll y B y

o o o s,
A pp ent weight is gr vit ti n di
.

E tv os
o d m ny t h e s
an a o r ar a a o
minished by cent ri f ug l re cti n t the e rth s r t ti n i f t h se
.
.
'
a a o o a o a o : e
did t v ry in the s me w y f
no a ll kinds f m tt e r delic t
a a or a o a a e
weighings w uld detect t h e disc rep ncy th expe riment f
,

o a : e s o
E otv os Sh w t h t it c uld
o t exceed a p rts in See i f
o no ve a n ra ,

P - 1 43
1
:
See m fra , p . 1 44 .
V I I I] N E WT O N S EX P O S ITI O N
121

This he gives as a result of strict dynamical reasoning ,

and by it he shows how not only the more conspicuous

phenomena but all the apparent irregularities of the
,

motions of t hese bodies are the calcu lable results of

this single principle I n his P pi he con nes
.
'

ri n c z
'

himself to the demonstration and development of this

great step in the science of the mutual action f bodies o .

He says nothing about the means by which bodies are

made to gravitate towards each other W know that . e

his mind did o t rest at this point that he felt that

n

gravitation itself must be capable o f being explained ,

and that he even suggested an explanation depending

on the action f an etherial medium pervading space
o .

But with that wise moderation which is characteristic

o f all his investigations he distinguished such specula
,

tions from what he had established by observation and

demonstration and excluded from his P i p a all '

,
r n cz z

mention o f the cause f gravitation reserving his o ,

thoughts o n this subject f the Q ueries printed at or

th e end of his Opti ks c .

The attempts which have been made Since the time

of N ewton to solve this di fcult q uestion are few in
n umber and have not led to any well established
,
-

result .
"

APPL I CA TI ON
OF N EW T ON S M ETHOD OF
1 47 .

I N VES TI GA TI ON
The method o f investigating the forces which act
between bodies which was thus pointed o ut and exe m
plie d by N ewt on I the case f the heavenly bodi es
n o ,

was followed out successfully the case o f electried In

and magneti ed bodies by Cavendish Coulomb and

z , ,

P oisson .

The investigation o f the mode in which the minute

p articles of bodies act on each other is rendered more
d fcult from the fact that both the bodies we consider
i

See A ppendix I i f p 4 ,
n ra , . 1 0 .
1 22 M O L EC U LAR F O RCE S
[ V I I I OH .

and their dista nces are so small that we cann ot perce ive
or measure them and we are therefore unable to
,

O bserve their motions as we do those of planets or of ,

electri ed and magneti z ed bodies .

1 48 . M ETH ODS
OF M OL EC UL AR INV ESTI GA TI ONS
Hence the investigations of molecular science have
proceeded fo the most par t by t he method of h ypo
r

thesis and comparison of the results of the hypo thesis

,

wi t h t he observed facts .

The success of this method depends on t he generali ty

o f the hypothesis we begi n wi t h If our h ypoth esis is .

the extremely general one that t he phenomena to be

investigated depend on the congura t ion and motion of

a material system t hen if we are able to deduce any
,

available results from such an hypo t hesis we may ,

safely apply them to t he phenomena bef re us o .

If on the other hand we frame t he hypo thesis that

, ,

the con guration motion or ac t ion of t he material

, ,

system is o f a certain denite kind and if the results ,

of this hypothesis agree with the phenomena then , ,

unless we can prove that no other hypothesis would

account for the phenomena we must still admit the ,

possibility of our hypothesis being a wrong one .

I MPO RT AN CE OF G EN ERAL AND EL EM ENT ARY

1 49 .

PROP ERTI ES
It is t herefore o f the greatest importance in l l a

physical in q uiries that we Should be t horoughly

acquainted wi t h the most general propert ies of material
sys t ems and it is for this reason t ha t in this book I
,

have ra t her dwelt on these general propert ies than

entered on t he more varied and interesting eld of th e
special properties f particular forms of mattero .

T h i is t h e sub j e t f th next c h pt
s c o e a er .
12
4 M O TI O N O F A C O N N E CTE D SY STE M [CH .

free from the intrusion of dy n amica l ideas O ur aim .

,

on the other hand is to cultivate our dynami cal ideas

, .

We therefore avail ourselves f the labou rs of the o

mathematicians and retranslate their resul ts from the

,

language of the calculus into the language of dyna mics ,

so that o u words may call up the mental image not

r ,

of some algebraical process but of some prope rty of ,

moving bodies .

The language of dynamics has been considerably

extended by those who have expounded in popula r
terms the doctrine o f the Conservation of Energy and ,

it will be seen that much o f the following statem ent is

suggested by the investiga t ion in Thomson and Tai t s

N tur l Ph ilosop hy especiall y the me t hod of begi n n ing

a a ,

with the theory f impulsive forces o .

I have applied this method so as to avoid the exp licit

consideration o f the motion of any part of t he s stem
except the coordinates variables on w hic th e or ,

motion of the whole depends It is doub tless importan t .

that the student should be able to t race the conne xion

o f the motion o f each part o f the sys t em with t hat of

the variables but it is by no means necessary t o do this

,

in the process of obtaining the nal equa t ions which are ,

independent of the particular form of these conn e xions .

Th e Va riable s

3 .The number o f degrees f freedom of a system is o

the number of data which must be given in order

comple t ely to determine its posi tion D i fferent forms .

may be given to t hese dat but their number depends a,

o n t he natu re f t he system itself and canno t be al t ered

o , .

To x our ideas we may conceive t he s stem con

n e c te d by means f sui ta ble mechanism wi t a number
o

o f moveable pieces each capable of motion alon a ,

str aight line and of no o t her kind of mo tion he

, .

imaginary mechanism which connects each o f these

pieces w th the sys t em must be conceived to be free
1

from friction destitu te of inertia and inca pable of

, ,
1x ] THE VARI AB L E S 25 1

being strained by the action o f the applied forces The .

use of this mechanism is merely to assist the imagina t ion

in ascribing position velocity and momentum t o what
, ,

appear in L agrange s investigation as pure algebraical

,

quantities .

L et g denote the position of o e of the moveable n

pieces as dened by its distance from a xed point in

its line o f motion W Shall distinguish the values o f
. e

(1 corresponding to the different pieces by the su fxes

1 , 2, etc When we are dealing with a set of quantities

.

belonging to o e piece only we may omit the suffix

n .

When t he values o f all the variables ( q) are given the ,

position of each o f the moveable pieces is known and , ,

in virtue f the imaginary mechanism the conguration

o ,

o f the entire system is de t ermined .

Th e Ve locities

4 . D uring the
motion o f the system the con g uration
C hanges in some denite manner and since the con ,

guration at each instant is fully de ned by the values

o f th e variables the veloci t y of every part o f the
system as well as its c n gu atio n will be completely
'

, o r ,

dened if we know the values o f the variables ( q) ,

dq
together with their velocities ai or according to ,

N ewton s notation g

,
'

r ces Th e F o
5 By a proper regulation Of the motion of the vari
.

ables any motion Of the system consis t ent with the

, ,

nature of the connexions may be produced In order , .

to produce this motion by moving the variable pieces ,

forces must be applied to t hese pieces .

W Shall denote the force which must be applied to

e

an y variable
g by F The sys t em of forces (F ) is
, ,
.

mechanically equivalent ( in vir t ue of the con exions n

of the system ) to th e system f forces whatever it may o ,

be which really produces the motion

, .
1 26 M O TI O N O F A C O N N E CTE D SY S TE M [C H .

Th e M omen ta
6 . W hen
a body moves in such a way that its con
guration with respect to the force which acts on it
, ,

remains always the same ( as f inst nce in the cas e , or a ,

o f a force acting on a Single particle in the li ne of its

motion ) the moving force is measured by t he rate of

,

increase o f the momen tum If F is the moving force .

,

and p the momentu m

whence p l t .

The time integral o f a force is called the Impulse of

-

the force ; S O tha t we may assert that t he momentu m is

the impulse o f t he force which would bring t he body
from a state of rest into t he given st t e of mo t ion a .

I n the case f a connected sys t em in motion the

o ,

conguration is continually Changing at a rate depending

on the velocities so that we can no lon er as sume
that the momentum is the time in t egral o t he force -

which acts on it .

But the increment Sq f any variable canno t be o

greater than q St where St is the time du ing which the

,
r

increment t akes place and q is the greates t value of the ,

'

veloci ty during that time I n t he case f a sys t em . o

moving from rest under th e action f forces always in o

t he same direction this is e viden t ly th e nal veloci ty

, .

I f the nal velocity and con gura tion of the system

are given we may conceive t he veloci ty to be communi
,

c te d t
a t he system in a very small t ime St th original
o , e

congu rati n di ff ering from th e nal conguration by

o

quan t i t ies Sq 81 etc which are less th an q 8 t

l , 1 2, .
, 1 ,

(1 8 1 e t c respectively
2 , . .

The smaller we suppose the increment of time St ,

the greater must be t he impressed forces but the time ,

integral or impulse of each force will rema in nite

, ,
.

The limi t ing value of t he impulse when the time is ,

1 28 M O TI O N O F A C O N N ECTE D SY STE M [CH .

I f we now suppose the impulse Fdl to be diminished

wi t hout li m it the values of a and
, will approach ,

and ultimately coincide with th a t of (7 and we may 1,

write p l
p 8p l ; so that the work done is ultimately
'

s
ql p l i
or, th e wo rk done r
by a ve y s ma ll im uls e is p ul tima te ly the
pr oduc t o f th e p
im uls e a n d th e velocity .

remen t f th Ki ti E rgy
Inc o e ne c ne

8 . When work is done in setting a cons ervative

system in motion energy is communica t ed t o it and
, ,

the system becomes capable o f doing an e q ual amount

of work against resistances before it is reduced t o res t .

The energy which a system possesses in virtu e of i ts

motion is called its Kinetic Energy and is communica ted ,

to it in the form of the work done by t he force s which

set it in motion .

If T be the kinetic energy of the system and if it ,

becomes T + 8 T o account f the ac tion of an in

,
n o

n ite s im l impulse whose components are 8p l 8p etc

a , ,, .

the increment 8 T mus t be the sum of the u tities

f work done by the components of the im pti lse or in
an

o ,

S ym b ls
8 T = (1 8m Mp

e tc 1 g

The instanta neous state o f the system is completely

dened if the variables and th e momenta are given .

Hence the kinetic energy whi ch depends on the ,

inst ntaneous state f t he system ca n be expressed in

a O ,

terms f the variables (q) and the momenta ( p) This

o , .

is the mode of expressing T in troduced by Ha m ilton .

W hen T is expressed in this way we shall distinguish

it b the su ffi x thus T ,
.

he complete varia t ion o f T is

8T
8 T, = E
(1 eq
s
E
3> aq
1x
] I N TER M S O F K I N ETI C E N E RG Y 1 29

The last term may be written

8 T1,
Z q O
8g
which diminishes with St and ultimately va n ishes [com ,

pared with the rst term] when the impulse becomes

instantaneous .

Hence e q u ting the c o e fc ie n ts o f 8p in equations ( 1 )

, a

and we obtain ET I)
9 3p
or, th e velocity co res r p on din
g to th e va r ia ble
q is th e
differen tia l coeic ien t o
f T1, p
with res ec t to th e r
cor e

spond in
g m o men tum p .

W have arrived at this result by the consideration f

e o

impulsive forces By this method we have avoided the

.

consideration of the change of con guration during the

action f the forces But the instan taneous state f the
o . o

sys t em is in all respects the m w h th the system was sa e, e er

brought from a state f rest to the given state f motion by

o o

the transient application of impulsive forces or whether ,

it arrived at that sta t e in any manner however gradual , .

In other words the variables and the corresponding

, ,

velocities and momenta depend on the actual state of ,

motion f the system at the given instant and not on

o ,

its previous history .

Hence the e q uation ( 3 ) is e q ually valid whether the

, ,

state f motion o f the system is supposed due to im pu l

o

sive forces or to forces acting in any manner wha t ever

,
.

W may now there fore dismiss t he consideration of

e

impulsive forces together wi t h t he limitations imposed

,

on their time of action and t he changes of o gu ,

on c n ra

tion during t heir action .

Ha milton E qua tions f lll o tion

s o

9 . We have already Shown that

a
3?
1 30 M O TI O N O F A C O N N ECTE D SY S TE M [C H .

L et the system move in an y arbitra y way subject to r ,

the conditions imposed by i ts conn exions ; then th e

variations o f p and q are
de
8p st ,
sq qst 0 0 0 0 0 0

dt

Hence 8p

and the complete variation of T, is

8 T,
8 T, 2 8p 8g
aq

But the increment of t he kinetic energy arises from

the work done by the impressed forces or ,

8 T, E ( F 8 q)
I n these two expressions t he variations Sq are all
independent o f each other so that we are en titled to
,

equate the coefficients o f each f them in th tw o e o

expressions ( 7 ) and We thus obtain

dp, a
F

+
dt ag,
where the momentum p and the force F belong to th e
, ,

variable q ,

There are as many e q uations f this form as there are o

variables These e q uations were given by Hamilton

. .

They show that the force corresponding to any variable

is the sum of two parts The rst part is the ate . r

of I ncrease f the mo mentu m of tha t variable with

o

respect t t he time The second par t is the rate O f In

o .

crease o f the kinetic energy per unit of increment o f

the variable the other variables and all the momenta
,

being constan t .

But s ee i nf ra , p . 15 8 .
1
3 2 M O TI O N O F A C O N N ECTE D SY STE M [CH .

then introducing these values in

, we sh all have an
expression for T involving only the veloci ties and the
variables When T is expressed in this form we shal l
.

indicate it by the symbol T h i is the form in w h ich s

the kinetic energy is expressed in the eq uations of

L agrange .

12 It is manifest that since T T and Tm are

.
, 1 qt
'
y

three d ff erent express i ons for the same th ng

i i ,

T, + TQ

T, + T PI 1 P242 e tC

Hence if all
, th e , q, quanti ties p and q va y r ,

8 T,
(,
a 1
e. 8m 9 2
8m etc .

T
p Sql
2 p Sq2 etc
'
.

92
ST
89 1 89 1
Sq l
( 89 2
89 2 n etc . 0 1
5)

The variations Sp are n o t independent of th varia e

tions Sq and Sq so that we cannot at once as sert that

the coe ffi cient of each variati on in this equa tion is

z ero But we know from equations
. that ,

8 T,
a
0, etc .

PI
so that t he te ms involving th e variations Sp vanish
r

O f themselves .

The remain ing varia tions Sq and Sq are now all

independent so that we nd by equati ng to z ero the
"
, ,

coefcients f Sq etc o
l , .
,

3 T, 3 T,
p 2
etc . 17 )
841
'

or, th e p
co m on en ts
f
o momen tum are th e dieren tia l

c oe ic ien ts f
o T, with respect to th e corres ondin
g p
velo c itie s .

Se e i nfr a , p . 1 59 .
Ix] L AG RAN G I AN
E Q U ATI O N S 1 3
3
Again by equating to z ero the coefcients of Sq etc
, l ,
.
,

S T, 8 T,
89 1 89 1

or , th e dieren tia l

ic ien t o
co e
f th e kin e tic en er
gy with
p
res ec t to a n
y v a r i a ble
q 1 is equa l tn mag n itude but o osite pp
p
in sig n wh en T i s ex ress ed as a un c tion of th e velocities f
f
ins tea d of as a un c tion of th e mom en ta .

In virtue equat on
of i
( 1 8) we may write the e uation
q
of motion ( 9)
dt 89 1
d 8 T, 8 T,
h

dl 89 1

which is the form in which the equations o f motion

were given by L agrange .

13 In the preceding investigation we have avoided

.

the consideration o f the form o f the function which

expresses the kinetic energy in terms either of the
velocities or o f the momenta The only explicit form .

which we have assigned to it is

Tm} a (P 4 q etc ) I 1

a .

in which it is expressed as hal f the sum of the products

o f the momenta each into its corresponding velocity .

We may express the velocities in terms f the di ff er o

e n ti l coe ffi cients of T

a with respect to the momenta
, ,

as in equation ( 3 ) thus]
8 T, 8 T,
<
1
_
P1 8 P2 etc
s
.

2 p1
This Shows that T s a homogeneous function of the
,
I

second degree f the momenta p l p etc

o , 2, .

We may also express the momenta in terms o f T4 ,

and we nd
0 0 0 0 0 0
1
34 M O TI O N O F A
C O NN ECTE D SY STE M [C H .

which shows that T, is a homo e n us function of the eo

second degree with respec t t o t e veloc i ties q q etc ,

'

g, .

If we write
a r, z
P for P
l l for

it?
2
and Q , , for Q , , for , etc .
;

then Since both T, and T are func t ions of th e s econd

, ,

degree o f q and of p respectively bo t h the P s an d th e

Q s W ll be functions of the variables q only and inde

I
,

pendent of the velocities and the momenta We t hus .

o b ta n the expressions f
I T or ,

2 Ti P q 2P +
< etc l l l
z
12 1 2
.

2T Q P + 2Q P P ,
etc II 1
2
12 I 2
.

The momenta are expressed in terms of the velocities

by the linear equations
P P 93 P + etc I 11 I2 2

and the velocities are expressed in terms of th momenta e

by the l near equationsi

Q P Q P etc

q ] II I I2 2 .

I n treatises o n the dynamics of a rigid body the ,

coefficients corresponding to P in which t he su ffi xes ,

are t he same are called M oments f Inertia and t hose

, o ,

corresp nding to P in which the su ffixes are di ff erent

o
1 2, ,

are called Products f I nertia W e may ex t end thes e o .

names to t he more general problem which is now

before us in which these q uantities are not as in the
, ,

case f a rigid body absolute constants but are func

o , ,

tions f t he variables q q e t c
o
,, , , .

I n like manner we may call the coeffi cients o f the

form Q l l M oments f M obility and those of the form o ,

P roduc t s f M obili ty
1 2, It is not often however
o .
, ,

at we shall have occasion t o speak of t he coefficients

f mobility
o .
136 M O TI O N O F A C O N N ECTE D SY S TE M [CH . 11:

Such a description of the methods of pu re dynamics

is not unnecessary because L agrange and most of his ,

followers to whom we are indebted fo these methods

, r ,

have in general con ned themselves to a demonstration

o f them and in order to devote their attention to th e
, ,

symbols before them they have endeavoured to banish ,

all ideas except those of p ure quanti ty so as not only ,

to dispense with diagrams but even to get rid of the ,

ideas of velocity momentum and energy aft er they

, , ,

have been once for all supplanted by symbols in t he

original equations I n order to be able to re fer t o the
.

results f this analysis in ordinary dynami ca l language

o ,

we have endeavoured to retranslate t he principal

equations o f the method into language which may be
intelligi ble without the use o f symbols .

As the development of the ideas and methods o f

pure mathematics has rendered it possible by forming ,

a mathematical theory o f dynam ics to bring to light ,

many truths which could not have been discovered

without mathematical S O if we are t o form ,

dynamical theories o f other sciences we mus t have our ,

minds imbued with these dynamical tru ths as well as

with mathematical methods .

I n forming the ideas and words relating to an y

science which like electricity deals with forces and
, , ,

their effects we must keep constan t ly in mind the ideas

,

appropriate to the fundamental science f dyna m ics so o ,

that we may during the rst development o f th e science

, ,

avoid inconsistency with what is already es tablished ,

and also that when our views become clearer the ,

lan g uage we have adopted may be a help to us and not

a h n d a ce
I r n .

It h ls gene r li ed
as a o c ncept n f dyn mics th t it
a z o ur o io o a so a
is p ssible t sse rt th t phy ic l system is f d yn mic l type
,

o o a a a s a o a a
a lth u gh we m y t h ve been ble t f r m ide f the
o a no a a o o an a o con
g t
I I ra d m ti n t h t
Io n s an ep resente d by the v ri bl
o o s a a re r a a es
See A ppend ix I I
.

.
 APP E N D I X I ( 1 9 2 0 )

Th e Rela tivity f
o th e F orces f
o N a ture

T HE idea of the forces o f nature was introduced into

science in denite form by Sir Isaac N ewton i the ,
n

expression f his L aws f M otion n the I ntroduction

o o I

to the P i p i He specied physical force as recog

r n ci a

n i e d and measured by the rate at which the velocity

z

o f the body onwhich i t acts is changing with the t i me .

This was the simplest measure conceivable it was ,

postulated tacitly that the forces so recogni ed corre z

s po n d to actual invariant causes f motion which areo ,

always present in accordance with the uniformity f

,
o

nature whenever the same conditions of the surrounding

,

system o f bodies recur An underlying question is thus

.

suggested as to why this particular measure corresponds

to O bjective nature and t some more complex one
, no ,

involving fo example the veloci ty also o the rate of

i ,
r

change o f the acceleration as well as that o f the v elocity .

But this introduction o f the idea of forces o f nature

also gave rise to the practical need of specifying some
denite mode o f prescribing velocity and its rate of
change Position and velocity belong to o n e system of
.

bodies in space and time but are l tiv to some other

, re a e

system The Simplest plan is to postulate some standard

.

system fo general re ference Accordingly N ewton laid

r .

down a scheme o f absolute space and absolute time ,

with respec t to which the movements and forces in

nature are to be determined I t is then necessary fo
. r

dynamical science to determine t his scheme f re ference o

provisionally for the set o f problems in hand and

, ,

continually t o correct its specication as the advance of

knowledge requires Thus for ordin ary purposes t he
.

space referred to the surrounding landscape and the

time o f an ordinary vibrator will su ffice fo a standard ; r
138 I APPE N D IX

but in Wider problems when the rot tion of the Earth a

has to be recogni ed these are no longer ade q uate and

z ,

must be replaced by a scheme f space and time which o

does not revolve wi t h the Eart h ; and so on The .

revolution e ff ected by Coperni cus in transferring t he ,

centre f reference from the Earth to the S un was thus

o ,

a preliminary to this dynamical order o f ideas We can .

conceive an ultimate system o f space and time as t ha t

frame to which the sta rs and s t ellar universes can be
related so as to secure the grea t es t simplici ty in t he
,

mode o f describing their mo t ions An y f am f space

'

. r e o

and time to which t he forces f nature are thus con o

s is te tly referred
n with sufficient precision for the
,

purposes i view has been named a frame of inertia

n , ,

because with respec t to it these forces are determined

by the N e wtonian product inertia acceleration F r -
. o

ordinary purposes there are many equally appro ximate

frames of inertia ; any u n iform mo t ion of t ransla tion
o f such a frame will m ake no di ff erence in its practica l
effi cacy .

This postulation of a standard space and a s t ndard a

time in the P ri ip i in 1 6 8 7 was made wi t h a view to

nc a

simple treatment o f the motions of t he plane tary bodies

in space : but it at once excited the cri t icism of philo
sophers both at home and abroad though apparently ,

they had no practical al t ernative to o ff er The illus trious .

L eibni continued to challenge its validi ty ; his epis t lary

z o

controversy with D r S amuel C larke who assumed on ,

abstract principles the championship of the N e wtonian

prac t ical formulation is e of t he classics f meta
, on o

physical philosophy O ur own Berkeley as a s t udent at

.

Trinity C llege D ublin where he was already thinking

o , ,

out his critical idealis t scheme of philos phy came up o ,

against the same kind f di ffi culties in his study of the

o

foundations of the N ewt nian system f the world o o .

Have we an y warrant fo assigning an absolute frame of r

space and t me f r the laws f na t ure especially wi th

i o o ,

respect t t he vast vacant spaces of as tronomy ? and

o
1
40 APP E N D IX I

and so got rid f the other relations of physica l n a tu re

o ,

will merely have to become relative to the sligh tly

altered reckoning introduced for this purpose But our .

knowledge f physical ex t ension and duration comes

o

mainly from the sense of sight : lit t le of it would have

been acquired by a race without vision It is impossible .

to ignore the rays of light as messengers o f direc tion

and duration from all parts of the visible univers e .

These essential and de t ermining phenomena of radia

tion also must become mere local features of time and
space or else they would put us in connexion wi th a
,

universal frame with respect to which they are pr pa o

gated However that may be a theory which claims

.
,

to be founded on metaphysical p inciples has recently r

been developed by Einstein and a numerous an d

important school in which it is found that the forc e s
of gravitation aiid no other can be represen t ed with
,

, ,

precision as inherent a more complicated scheme of

In

space and time ins t ead of n the physical na t ure that

I

that frame helps to describe ; while at the same time they

thereby fall i nto line with the electrodynamic doctrines
o f relativity above mentioned .

It has been recogni ed however also that th e same

z

results can arise na turally and without invol ving

,

revolu t ionary ideas o f time and space as a slight ,

( though analytically complex ) expansi n o f th funda o e

mental physical formulation f Least Action ( i fr ) ; t he

o n a

Special relations of stress energy and m mentu m on

, , o

which as criteria the theory had to develop being in

fact already implicit on that universal principle .

This alteration in the m de of expression o f N ew

o

t ni
o an gravit tion of course makes ve y little practical
a r

di fference ; it h wever claimed special notice as

o re

moving e uts t anding Slight discrepancy wi th o bs e r

on o

va t ion in the m tion of t he nner planet M ercury

,
o i ,

which had previously to be ascribed t an assumed o

dis t ribution o f mass be tween the plan et and the S un .

S uch an e q uivalent warping f the frame of Space and

o
 G RAV ITATI O N AND L I GHT 141

time must also a ffect either in reality o in appearance r

the propagation o f radiation wherever gravitation is

intense O ne such i ference is that rays o f light would
. n

be very Slightly deviated in passing close to the Su : and n

the results o f the Greenwich and Cambridge astronomers

who observed the solar eclipse f 1 9 9 have in fact o 1

conrmed the required amount rather closely But .

another result of such an order o f ideas f a spec t ro , o

scopic character still lacks any de ite con rmation

, n .

The primary d id tum as regards gravitation was

es era

to nd a mathematical mode f expression which would o

bring it into touch with the theory o f electrical agencies

and o f radiation from which it had been isolated and
, ,

even as regards the nature o f the relation o f inertia to

,

weight in very Slight discord This has been done by

, .

ascribing the acceleration comm on to all bodies merely

to an altering frame of reference instead f the intro , o

duction into ordinary space o f an intrinsic gravitational

potential function indicating an independent type o f
local activi ty F velocities very large t housands f
. or , o

t imes greater than the actu al speeds f the heavenl y o

bodies the results f this view would be qui t e di ff erent

,
o

from the simple N ewt onian gravitation and with ur , o

means o f ex p ression they would be f ex t reme compli o

cation : but the actual stellar world the di ff erence s

in I

excessively slight and in t he right direction S O far

, .

from replacing N ewt onian astronomy it can only

establish connexion with rea lity by making use f ts o i

representations and methods We may perhaps c . on

elude that the linking up f gravita t ion previously o ,

isolated wi t h other physical gencies has been e ff ected :

,
a

but we ought not t o exclude a hope that the mode o f

expression o f this connexion may time be greatly in

simplied es p ecial ly by more t tention to th e P rinci p le

, a

of Action as t is only very small ch nges that are

, i a in

volved M e an time the extrapola t ion based the pre

.
, on

sent g eneral formulation f the theo y to explora tion

O r ,

o f uni verses involving far higher speeds t h n t he stars a

1
42 I APPE N D IX

possess in o ur own is a fascinating subject for abst ru s e

,

mathematical speculation .

The general doctrine of rela t ivity at any rate in its ,

more extreme fo mulations impu gns th e validity of

r ,

arguments such as those o f 6 This qu estion m ust .

relate to the meanings f the parties to a controversy If

o .

we were shut o ff from sight f the stars there might be o

greater reason fo claiming that it would be u ph ilo

r n

sophic even to mention such a thing as an absolute

rotation o f the Earth o any movement t h at could not
, r

be expressed as conditioned by adjacen t bodies That .

type o f theory C laims to settle all t hings by loca l scale

and clock : but it also has practice to requisition th In e

use of the directions and periodic times f rays of light o

as valid means of discrimination U nless the rays are .

to bend to the control f scale and clock t hese meas ures

o ,

will not be concordant : if they do th e conne xion may ,

be held to x the frame with respect to which th e rays

travel with their assumed universal veloci ty and th us ,

to determine in part what has been regarded as th e

aether o f space An articial gravitational eld could
.

be simulated by accelerating t he frame of reference ,

provided it is o t done by a mere algebraic change of

n

c ordinates : but the rays of light might have different

o

speeds in it forward and backward which would seem ,

to involve a discriminating criterion for any such un

restricted principle of equivalence of a gravitational

eld to a changing fr me An y purely algebraic t heory

a .

is an abs t raction from the wider eld o f phenomena ,

and an essen t ial question for it is the range of its own

validity .

N o te to 1
45
mean result of numerous modern determina
As th e
tions Cavendish S value 5 4 5 for the mean densi ty o f

the E arth has to be incre ased by less t han two per cent .

The tors ion apparatus h as been very grea tly reduced

1 44 APP E N D IX
I
inertia o f amount /e where is the veloci ty f light
s
z
, c o .

In modern extensions o f that t heory all energy h a s

inertia The inertia f an electron seems to be all

. o

associated with its steady kinetic energy of motion .

The closeness o f the E otvO result thus carri e s th e

S

conclusion that the inertia of an electron must al l

gravitate and in fact that all energy possess es inertia
,

which is also gravitative Thus nei t her inertia nor

.

gravitation could continue to be specic consta ts f n o

matter : they must be connected up either wi th t he

aether in which matter subsists or with the abst ract
,

reference frame of space time which is all th t can

- -
a

remain if such a medium is denied .

 APP E N D I X 11 ( 1 9 2 0 )

Th e P rin ci le p f
o Leas t Ac tion

T HE great d idera tum f r any science is its reduction to

es o

the smallest number o f dominating principles This .

has been effected for dynamical science mainly by Si r

William Rowan Hamil t on o f D ublin ( 8 3 4 , building 1

o n the analytic l founda t ions provided by L agrange in

a

the formulation f L east Action in terms o f the methods

o

o f his C alculus of V aria t ions d later ( 1 7 88 ) an

but less fundamentally f physic l purposes o the

or a n

principle o f virtual work in the M iqu A ly tiqu

'
eca n e na e .

The principle of the C onservation o f Energy inas ,

much as it can provide only o e e q uation cannot n ,

determine by itsel f alone the orbit o f a Single body ,

much less the course of a more complex system ( t hus

1 0 7 2 above need some qualication )
1 1 B ut i f the .

body starts o its path from a given position in the

n

eld f force and with assigned velocity the principle

o ,

of energy then determines the velocit y this body must

have when it arrives at any o t her posit on either the i ,
In

course of free motion o under guidance by constr aints

r

such as are frictionless and consume no energy If S0 .

W a function o f position represen t s the po t ential

, ,

energy o f a body in the eld per unit mass the velocity

, ,

v o f the body is in fact determined by t he equation

7720
2
W
772 :
5
4 710
0
2
m wo mE :
where the subscripts in v and W refer t the ini t ial
0 0 o

posi t ion ; and mE is the total energy o f t he body in

rela t ion t o t he eld of force which is conserved t hrough
,

o ut its pa t h Thus
.

v = (2E 2 W) ;
f

so that the veloci ty v depends on posi t ion , t hrough W ,

alone .

N ow we can propound the following problem By .

1
46 APP E ND IX 11

what path must the body o f mass m be guided under , ,

frictionless constraint from an initial position A to a

nal position B in space with given co n se ved to t l , r a

energy mE so that the Action in t he pa th de ned as

, ,

the limit of the sum E mvSs t hat is as mvd where Ss , s ,

is an element of length o f this path Shall over each , ,

stage be least possible ? The me t hod f treating th e

, o

simpler problems of this kind is known to have been

familiar to N ewton in t he case of t he present question .
,

rst vaguely proposed by M aupertuis when President

"

o f the Berlin Academy under F rederic t he Great t he ,

solu t ion w s gradually evolved and enlarged by th e

a

famous S wiss mathema t ical family of Bernoulli d an

their compatriot Euler : and n ally extended t o more ,

complex cases it gave rise after Euler s t rea tise o f da t e

, ,

1
7 44 in t he hands of the youth ful L agr nge ( Turi
, a n

M em ir 1 7 5 8 ) to th e Calculus f Variations th mos t

o s, o , e

fruitful expansion of the processes of t he inni t es im al

calculus for purposes of physical science Since the time
, ,

o f N ewton and L eibni z .

L et us draw in t he given eld of force a se ri es of

closely consecu t ive surfaces of constant veloci ty an d ,

there fore of constant poten tial energy m W : an d let us

consider an orbit intersecting th ese surfaces at
the points B C D We shall regard in th e N ewt oni an
, , , ,

m a n t the velocity as constant say v in the in

n er , , ,,
n it im l path from B t C and cons t an t say v from
es a o , , 2,
C t D : these elemen ts of the path are thus to be
o re

garded as s t raight the eld o f force being supposed to ,

operate by a succession f very Sligh t impulses at B o ,

C D such as in the limit as the elemen ts of the pa th

, , ,

dimin sh indenitely will c nverge t o t he continuous

i , o

operati n f a ni t e force
o o .

T he n ti n f A cti n p ssibly with minim l q u li ty t

o o o an o o a a no
me ely p ssive ine rti c nce rned in the t r nsm iss n f
,

r a a, as o a io o
P tenti ene rgy is sc ri be d t L eibni by H elmh lt
o a or 887 a o z o z in 1
equ ble de c ripti n
, .

p B k Sec '

1 Ci P n nc z P p ia oo 1, 11 , r0 1 on a s o
f re s i cent r l rbit
.
,

o a a n a a o .
1
48 APP E N D IX II

thus describable as the pa t h of advance that would be

determined by minimum expenditu re of Action in each
stage as the body proceeds : though t his does not imply
,

that the total expenditu re o f Action from one end to

the other o f a longer path is necessarily or always the
least possible This formula of stationary ( or say mini
.

m l) Action expressed by the variational equation

a ,

S where l mv m W = mE
mvds 0,
2
,

is by itself competent to select the actu al free orbit

from amo n g all possible constrained paths .

An d generally f r any dynamical sys t em having kinetic

, o

energy expressed by a function T of a suffi cient number

o f geometrical coordinates and potential energy ex ,

pressed by W it can be shown that the course of

,

motion from one given conguration to ano ther is com

p le te ly determined by the Single variat i onal equati on
subj ect to T + W = E
S Tdt = 0 ,

E being the total energy which s prescribed as con ,

I

served so that the variations contemplated in the

,

motion must be due only to frictionless constraints .

Another form of the principle is that

8
j ( T W) dt =

provided the total time o f motion from the given ini tial
to t he given nal conguration is kept cons t ant This .

form is more convenient f analytical purp ses because or o

the mode f variation is t restricted to frictionless

o no

constraint ; as conserva t ion o f t he energy is not imposed ,

extraneous forces which can be included in a m o dica

,

tion of W may be in operation imparting energy to the

,

sys t em Constancy o f the time o f t ransit which here

.
,

takes the place f conservation of the energy is an alyti

o ,

c lly th o ugh not ph y ically a simpler form o f restriction

a ,
s , .

F rom this form t he complete set f genera l equations o

 L EAS T ACTI O N 1 49

of motion developed by L agrange ( see p . 1 33)is

i mmediately derived by e ffecting the process o f varia
tI o n .

If T is a homogeneous q uadratic function of the

i
generaliz ed components o f veloci ty T dt is a quadratic
,

function of innitesimal elements of the coordinates :

therefore the rst form when expressed ( after Jacobi ) as
s (E ( T hu) 0

does not any longer involve the time It thus determines.

the geometrical relations f the path o f the system

o

without reference to time ; for a simple orbit it reduces

to the earliest form investigated above .

I n the modern discussions f the fundamental prin

o

c iple s o f dynamics especially as regards their tentative

,

adaptation to new regions o f physical phenomena

whose dynamical connexions are concealed this prin ,

c iple of variation o f the Action which condenses the

,

whole subject into single formula independent of any

a

particular system o f coordinates naturally occupies the

,

most prominent place .

a supplement to Chapter IX these statements o f

As ,

the Principle of Action will now be established for a

general dyna m ical system This can be done most
.

Simply and powerfully by introducing the analytical

method o f Variations invented by L agrange as above
,

mentioned .

The principle as already deduced fo the simplest

, r

case relates to the forms o f paths o orbits : if it is also

, r

to involve the manner in which the orbits are described

the time must come in The criterion f a free path was
. o

that S
. 0 with energy E constant throughout the
0

motion : it is the same as S j v dt = 0 under the same

z
1
50 AP P E N D IX
II
condition ; o writing T for the kinetic energy l mv
r,

,

it is S j 2 Tdt 0 under the sam e restriction to c ons tan cy

of the tota l energy .

L et us conduct the variation directly from this latter

form but now keeping the time unvaried
, ,

dz
8 Tdt = S Im
Ft
d dy d Sy dz dSz
dt dt dt dt dt

in which d is the di ff erential o f x as the body moves

along its orbit with changing time but Sx is the ,

variation o f the value of x as we p ass from a point on

the orbit to a corresponding point on the adjacent pos
sible path that is compared wi th it The intr oduction of .

di fferent symbols d and S to discriminate these two

types of change is the essential feature of the C alcul us
of V ariations : we have already used the fundamental
relation d d Integrating now by parts in order
.
,

to get rid o f variations f velocities which are not inde

o

pendent variations and so not ar bitrary we O btain ,

dx dy dz
8
d i= m
tI s
-

k m
EZ
Sy l-
m Sz-

16 (1
z 2
d
i
x ( ; a
m Sx + m Sy + m 3 8 2: dt ,
a? F 31

in this the rst term represents the di fference of th e

values at the upper and lower limits o f the integr l a ,

indicated by subscripts 2 and 1 which correspond to ,

the nal and initial posi t ions o f the body The second .

term is equal to
j ( X 8 3: YSy Z Sz ) dz,

where ( X ,
Y Z)
, is the e ffective force acting on the par
152 APP E ND IX I I

assert that when t is not varied ,

an d th e time limits
t and t are therefore constant
1 2 ,

3 ( T W) dt = o

when the frictionless variation is taken between xed

initial and nal positions o f the dynamical sys t em .

This quan tity T W is the L agrangian function L

dening by itself alone t he dynamical char ac t er of th e

system : the function L or W T is thus the potential

energy W as modi ed for kinetic applications and h s , a

been appropriately named by Helm hol tz th e kine tic

potential o f the system Thus the particular cas e o f
.

a system at rest is included : for

j
a Wdt o S Wdt is equal to S W dz
r

as W remains constant during the time : hence t he

equation of Action asserts in this case that
BW = O,

which comprehends th e laws o f S tatics in th fo rm e

that the equilibrium is determined by making th e

potential energy stationary Fo stability t must be
. r i

minimum .

Again as L s expressed as a function of the generali ed

,
I z

coordinates 0 95 and their velocities

, , ,

8L
8 Ldt 89 89 dt
9 at)
dB d
where 9 represents dt and SO 13 equal to _ 88
dt
t hus
integrating b y parts as before
8 Ldt =

d 8L SL
dt .

88
As the left side vanishes when the terminal positions
,
 L E AS T ACTI O N 1
53
are unvaried for all values of the current variations
,

SB S p
,
and these are all independent and arbitrary
c , ,

the coordinate quantities 9 qS being just sufficient , ,

to determine the system the coeffi cient of each of these

,

variations must vanish separately in the integrand Thus .

we O btain a set o f equations f type o

d a ]; 6L
dt a 89
which are the L agrangian equations o f motion o f any
general dynamical system ( 2 0 p 1 3 3 up a) If there are , . s r .

in addition extraneous forces in action o n the system ,

the appropriate component force F dened as that 9,

part whose work F St) I S conned to change of the one

,
coordinate 9 must be added o the right hand side
,
n .

These applied forces may vary with t any manner : in

the y can be merged W by addition o f terms F 0

In 9

to t : their presence will prevent the energy o f the

i

system from rema ning constant i .

Ifwe restrict this comparison f paths to var at on from o i i

a free path of the system t ady en t f ee p th s we haveo ac r a ,

al
a Ldt
2
5 89 1
L
q
56 9
S

now as an ex ct e q uation and so capable of further

a ,

di ff erentiation ; and it provides the basis o f the Hamil

t ni
o theory o f varying Action
an .

It will be convenient at this stage to remove the

restriction that the time is n o t to be varied to allow for .

thi s change we must substitute in the e q uation in

place o f SB the expression Sli OSt which deducts from
the total variation f 0 that part of t which arises from
o I

the motion in the interval f varied time St We must o .

also add LSt in order to include in t he time o f transit

the new inte val o f time St added o at the end by
r n

the variation Thus o w . n

t
a
s LSt LSt
iii : (8 9
)
6 8 t)
0
; ( 96
8 SS
q )t

10 5
1
54 APP E N D IX II
Al so L : T W ; and T being a homogeneous
quadratic function ,

aL 8I .

9+ 9
844
.

89
t
8L
hence 8
j t]
Ldt 89 +
egg
-
E8 t

where E is the nal value f the total energy T W o

When n o extraneous forces are supposed to be in

act on E is constant at all times : t hus
i

E8: tSE 8 ( E t) tBE 8 Edt .

Hence transposing the last term the alternative fo m

, ,
r

ari ses ,

a T
it
T
80
+ S tSE ,

for variations thr oughout which the energy is conserved .

This is the generali z ation f the previous form o

S mvds 0 for a particle except that now th e time also ,

is involved and is determined as EBA/BE where A is th e

, ,

time integral o f 2 T as expressed in terms o f initial and

nal congurations and the conserved energy .

This involves the analy t ical result that i f O are ,

the m m e n ta corresponding to t he coordinates 9 45

o

ll
, ,

then there must e xist a certain func t ion A ( of fo

however that is usually di fficul t to calculate ) of
0 p ,
E such th at in varying from th e free path to
, ,

adjacent free path s of the sys t em ,

8A 08 9 was t8 E .

A more
exp lici t and wider form espe c ially for op tical ,

applications is immediately involved in this formula

, ,

The su bsc ri pt n t ti n f Ch pte r w ul d h e re be i

o a o o a 1x o n co n

v e n ie n t.
1
56 APP E N D IX I I

T r s 1 8 3 4 and
an .
, and soon furth er expanded in
analytical directions by Jacobi and other investigators .

It brings a set o f nal positions of a dynamical sys t em

into direct rela t ions with the corresponding initial posi
tions independently o f an y knowledge whatever f the
, o

details of the paths o f transition In connexion wi t h the .

Simplest case of orbits it has been charac t eri zed by

Thomson and Tait as a theo y of aim co n nec t ing up r , ,

so to say the deviations n a nal t arget arising from

,
o ,

changes o f aim at a ring point with the correspond ,

ing quantities o f the reversed motion I n geome t rical .

optics from which the original clue to th e theo y came

,
r ,

where the rays might be regarded as orbi t s of im agined

N ewtonian corpuscles o f light t involves the general ,
i

relations of image to obj ect that must hold for all type s

of instrument as origi nally discovered by Huygens d

, an

by Cotes Its scope now extends all through physical

.

science .

In certain cases the number of coordina t e variables

required for the discussion of a dynami ca l problem can
be diminished Thus if the kinetic po t ential involves
.

one r more coordinates only through their velociti es

o ,

the corresponding equations o f mo t ion merely expres s

the constancy throughout time o f the momentu m tha t
is associa t ed wi t h each such coordina t e : t his holds f or

ins t ance for the case f freely spinning fl ywheels o

attached to any system of machi nery and for all o ther ,

cases in which conguration is not affected by th e

changing value f the coordina t e I n all such cases the

o .

veloci t y can be eliminated being replaced by its ,

momentum which Is a physical cons t ant f the motion o .

The kinetic potential can t hus be modied ( R outh ,

Kelvin H lm h ltz ) s o as to involve e o r more variables

, e o on

the less but still to maintain the s t tion ary property of

,
a

its t ime integral I t is now no longer a homogeneous

-
.

quadratic but involves terms con t aining the other

,

velocities to the rst degree multiplied o f cou rse by ,

these cons t ant momenta as all the t erms must be of the

 L E AS T ACTI O N 1 57
same dimensions Every such kinetic potential belongs
.

to a sys t em possessing one o more l t t unchanging r a en

( steady ) motions ; and a general theory o f this important

physical class o f systems and of the transformation o f ,

their energies arises , .

In fact If L L PL
I l

where l are a group of coordinates and F

al

related momenta then ,

e e
w ar

+ 8,L

in which the rst term vanishes identically while S L , I

is the variation o f L with regard to the remaini ng
variables Hence if L do o t involve the coordinates
. n

s o that I are constant and are not made subj ect

l '
glu
to variation a d l are eliminated from L by i ntro
. n .
,
'
,
n zi

duction of
8 [ La x 089 + 0 8 46

depending only o the variations f the explicit c o n o

ordinates at the limits provided are kept u m ,

varied o r the flywheels f the system are o t tampered

, o n

with .

Although the cyclic coordinates do o t appear at all n

in L yet it is only in terms o f L modied as here that

,
'

we can avoid their asserting themselves in the domain

of varying Action .

The ultimate aim of t heoretical physical science is to

reduce the laws of change in t he physical world as far
as possible to dynamical principles It is not necessary .

to insist n the fundamental position which the kinetic

o

potential and the stationary property f its time integral o

assume in this connex on Two dynamical systems i .

whose kinetic potentials have the same algebraic form

1 58 APPE ND IX I I

are thoroughl y correlative as regards their phenomena ,

however different they may be in actuality If any range .

of physical phenomena can be brough t under such a

stationary variational form its dynamica l natu re is ,

suggested : there still rem ains the problem t o extri c ate

the coordinates and veloci ties and momenta and to ,

render their relations fami liar by comparison with

analogous systems that are more amenable to inspection
and so better known .

N o te Ch p ter I X 9
on a , .

It has appeared above as L agrange long ago em ,

p h as i
z e d that
,
the principle of Conservation o f Energy
can provide only one f the equations that are re q uired
o

to determine the motion o f a dynamical system It .

follows that the reasoning o f this section which

seems to deduce them all mus t be insu ffi cient The , .

argument there begins by supposing the system t o m ve o

in any arbitrary way ; that is it assumes mo tions deter ,

mined by the various possible types f fric t ionless o

constraint that are consistent with t he constitu tion of

the system The e q uation ( 9 ) is t hen derived correctly
.

from ( 7 ) and as the variations Sq are fu lly arbi t a y r r .

But the imposed constr ints introduce new and u a n

kn wn constraining forces which must be included in

o

li d forces F ; and t hey would make th result

e , e ,

so far as there demonstrated nuga t ory , .

The e q uations ( 9 ) are however valid though this ,

deducti n o f them fails As explained above the L a

o .
,

gra n g i an e q ua t ions ( )
2 0 are derivable imm edia t ely from
the Principle f L east Ac t ion independen t ly es t blished
o , a

as here : and then the e q uations ( 9 ) can be derived

by reversing th e argument .
1 60 II APP E ND IX

leading o n integration by parts as usual to tw o sets of

relations of the ty pes

dp 9 T, aW
9

8p di 9g aq

if in it the momenta and coordinates are regarded as

independent var iables As 8T
Sq
8T
Sq
by . the
second set are the L agrangian dynamical equations
Thus we have here a single function
g> = T
l , W
involving coordinates and their velocities linear in the ,

latter and an equal number o f quantities p of the nature

,

o f momenta the coordinates and momenta being thus

,

independent variables such that the relation ,

S bdt =
<, 0

leads both to the identication of the relations in which

the momenta stand to the coordinates and to the
dynamical equations of motion of the system .

This result is virtually the same as e q ua t ion 1 2 a in

Hamilton Ph il Tr ns 1 8 3 5 p 24 7 I n Helmholtz s
, . a .
, , . .

memoir on L east Action G elle s j ourn l v l 1 00 ,

r

a ,
o .

C ollected P p vol iii p 2 1 8 another function

a ers , .
, .

is introduced apparently with less tness in which the

, ,

velocities are regarded as independent of their c o o di r

n t s b u t the momenta are the gradients of L with

a e

regard to the velocities Cf also P o Lo d llf th S oc

. . r c . n . a . .
,

1 8 84 .

A main source o f the great power of these dynamical

relations o f minimal or stationary value as exploring ,

agents in physical science is that the results rema i n ,

valid however the physical character f the functions o

involved may be disguised by transformation to new

variables g i ven in terms o f the more fundamenta l
,

dynamical ones by any equations whatever This func .

 L EAS T ACTI O N 1 61

tion qS may thus be expressed n terms of 2 n quantities

I

which are in any way mixed functions o f coordinates

and momenta and their gradients with respect to time
remaining a linear function of the latter and subj ect to
other limitation and the equation 8 j gbdt 0 will still
subsist and will express all the dynamical relations o f
the physical system .

The existence of a variational relation of this type

may be taken as the ultimate criterion that a partially
explored physical system conforms to the general laws o f
dynamics ; while from its nature the coordinate quantities
in terms of which the conguration and motion o f the
system happen to be expressed Shrink to subsidiary
,

importance .
 I N DE X
The n u mb er s re e r
f to pag es
A bs lute sp ce d t ime
o a an 1 39 G r vi t ti n unive r
a a o s al , 8 2 ; la w
A ccele r ti n 3 M n
, ,

a o 2 0 f, 1 09 , 1 11 ; of th e oo
A cti n 4 5 b s rb ed
, ,

o 1 1 1 c use f 1 2 1 ; a o
5 ; a o
A tt r cti n 4 6 6 ; mu tu l
, ,

a o 1, a 44 int time 1 4 ; i uen e

o 2 n c on
p ro p rti n al to
, , ,

l ig h t 141 ; o o
Be rkeley G I 3 8 in e rtia
,

B ys C Ve rn n 4 3 G ravity measu rement f 1 0 1

.
, ,

o , . o , 1 ,
o ,

Ca lcul ti o n 9 a 1 1 H mil t n W R
a o 15 5 : h is
C vendi sh H t orsi o n
. .
, ,

a b l nce
a a d yn mic l qu tia a e a on s 1 29
, ,

H e t ene rgy 7 3
a as
,

Centre f m ss 4 5 ; m o ti o n H d gr p h 7 ,

o a o f, o o a 10

4 7 ; m ti n r e f e rre d to 1
, ,

o o 06
Cent ri f ug l f rce 9 3 mpulse 3 7 ; w ork o f 1 2 7
,

a o I
C ir cul r m o ti n 9 2 I ne rti fr me f 3 ;
, , ,

a o 9; a, 2 a o 0
C o n gu rati o n 3
, ,

speci ca ti n f 1 3 4 : in o o
C nse rv tive system 5 4 c re ases wi t h speed 1 4 1 ; f
, .

o a o
C rdin tes 1 2 4 ene rgy 1 4 4
, ,

oo a , ,

d Al e m b e rt

le R 49 Kepl e r s l ws 1 6
a 0
D esc rtes Kineti c ene rgy ca l cu la ti n o f
.
, , ,

a 9R o
D ispl cement 5
.
, , , ,

a 1 6 ; l imi ts o f
2 v ail a ble 6 3 ; a
D yn mic l system
, ,

a a , 1 23 ; test f pl nets 1 1 3
o a ,

o f, 1 36 , 1 59 Kin eti c p tential 1 5 2 o ,

E a l sticity 8 3 L g nge
a ra " L 1 46 ; h is
ll ptic rbits o f p l nets 1 8
, , .

E i o a 0 dyn a mica l eq u a tio ns 133,

ne rgy 1 5 8 ; c nse rv ti n f
, ,

E o a o o 15 3
5 5 ; h ist o ry 7 5 ;
, ,

t id ti , no en L tent m ti ns 5 6
a o o , 1
a ble 8 9 ; l tent 9 ; p ten a 0 o L ws f m ti n 7 3 7
a o o o 2 1
L ws f n tu re 3
, , , ,

ti l 5 8 6 5 6 7 7 7 1 1 3 ;
a a o a 1
L e st A cti n 4 5 ; f rb it
. , , , , ,

c h nge t k inetic 5 9 ; speci

a o a o 1 or o
f 7 1 ; f o r mul a e f r
, , ,

ca ti on o , o 14 7 f und ment l i p h ysics a a n ,

ki netic 3 1 , 1
L eibni G W 3 8 z, 1
Frdy
. .
,

a a a M 1 39
F rce 5 M s me su re f 3 3 : vect r
, .
,

o m ss 35 80 ; an d a as a o o
d f r ce
, , , , ,

d e ff ective
, ,

3 ; pplied
2 a an 4 4 ; cent e f 4 5 ; r o an o

4 9 ; de rived f r m ene r gy
, ,

o 49
6 8 8 8 ; mea su r ed by vi b r M ss r e 5
,

a a -
a5 a, 0, 10
M te ri l system 8 9
,

ti ns 95
o a a 2,
F rces a t in d epen d ently 3 7
, ,

o c , , M ediu m p h ysic l 6 7 , a ,

39 7 M b il ity speci c ti n f 3 4
o a o o 1
Fr me N ewt n n M ment 5
. , ,

a ,
o ia , 9, 11 , 1 38 o , 1