We kicked off the countdown to Newton’s birthday with his second law of motion, which is almost but not quite everything you need to understand and predict the motion of objects. The missing piece is today’s equation: This is the full and correct definition of momentum, good for any speed all the way up to… Continue reading The Advent Calendar of Physics: Newton and Einstein
Category: Advent
The Advent Calendar of Physics: Action and Reaction
We kicked off our countdown to Newton’s birthday with his second law of motion, so the obvious next step is to go to his third law of motion: This one was also originally in Latin, because that’s how Ike liked to roll: Lex III: Actioni contrariam semper et æqualem esse reactionem: sive corporum duorum actiones… Continue reading The Advent Calendar of Physics: Action and Reaction
The Advent Calendar of Physics: Force and Momentum
It’s that time of year again, when we count down the days to Isaac Newton’s birthday (according to the Julian calendar, anyway), and how better to mark this than with mathematics? Thus, I’ll post an equation a day until either Christmas Eve or I run out of ideas, and talk about what it means and… Continue reading The Advent Calendar of Physics: Force and Momentum