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Next: Galileo

FALLING BODIES


Now that we have mastered all sorts of Algebra and Calculus skills, it is time to get on with Newtonian Mechanics, Gravitation, Cosmology and all that, right?

Gee, I sure wish it were true.

Although (I hope you will agree) there are some interesting historical and perceptual lessons to be learned from Newton's Mechanics, it is generally rated as one of the more boring topics in Physics;6.1 worse yet, we are not yet ready for Newton - ``You have to creep before you can crawl,'' as it were. And in this business ``creeping'' is the business of Kinematics - the study of motion per se.

Besides, before we go on to expound Newton's ``Laws'' in their modern form we will need to have a chapter on vectors, since forces are classic examples of vectors - i.e. they have both magnitude and direction.6.2



 

Jess H. Brewer
1998-09-06