Title

On the deduction of Newton’s second law.

Authors

Coelho, R. Lopes

Abstract

We learned at high school and university that Newton’s second law is F=ma. However, Newton never wrote this equation. Furthermore, there is no agreement among historians of science as to the equation that expresses Newton’s second law. On the other hand, Euler claimed to have discovered a principle of mechanics, which is F=ma. The respective paper of Euler provides us with the means of clarifying the issue. We can compare Newton’s second law and Euler’s principle with each other and verify whether there are significant differences between both laws. This is the task of the present paper. The result is that Newton’s axiomatic system and technique of decomposing force differ from Euler’s.

Subjects

NEWTON'S second law of motion; THEORY of knowledge; MATHEMATICAL models; NEWTON-Raphson method; PHYSICAL laws

Publication

Acta Mechanica, 2018, Vol 229, Issue 5, p2287

ISSN

0001-5970

Publication type

Academic Journal

DOI

10.1007/s00707-017-2074-2