What did Galileo have to do with Isaac Newton?

Answer 1

Isaac newton was a physicist and mathematician who was born in 1642/3 (see related question for details) in Lincolnshire, UK. He studied at Trinity College, Cambridge and obtained his degree. He went on to make major achievements in both Physics and Mathematics.

In Physics he is widely considered to be the most influential physicist of all time. In optics he showed white light can be split into colors and recombined into white light and, invented the reflecting telescope. In mechanics he was able to explain the motion of the planets in terms of 3 laws of motion (now known as Newton's Laws) and a universal theory of gravity.

In mathematics he was a co-discoverer of Calculus with Leibniz. It is now generally believed that they both discovered it independently but Leibniz published first. Newton also developed a generalize binomial theorem along with a range of important but obscure mathematical developments.

In his later life he became a member of parliament and master of the Royal Mint.

He died of natural causes in 1727 aged 84, possibly because of Mercury. Galileo had discovered inertia and Newton formed the first law of motion, which used what Galileo had come up with about inertia, but Galileo died before Newton was born, so they didn't really have a face to face connection.

Newton's Three Laws

of Motion

Let us begin our explanation of how Newton changed our understanding of the Universe by enumerating his Three Laws of Motion.

Newton's First Law of Motion:I. Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.

This we recognize as essentially Galileo's concept of inertia, and this is often termed simply the "Law of Inertia".

Newton's Second Law of Motion:II. The relationship between an object's mass m, its acceleration a, and the applied force F is F = ma. Acceleration and force are vectors (as indicated by their symbols being displayed in slant bold font); in this law the direction of the force vector is the same as the direction of the acceleration vector.

This is the most powerful of Newton's three Laws, because it allows quantitative calculations of dynamics: how do velocities change when forces are applied. Notice the fundamental difference between Newton's 2nd Law and the dynamics of Aristotle: according to Newton, a force causes only a change in velocity (an acceleration); it does not maintain the velocity as Aristotle held.

This is sometimes summarized by saying that under Newton, F = ma, but under Aristotle F = mv, where v is the velocity. Thus, according to Aristotle there is only a velocity if there is a force, but according to Newton an object with a certain velocity maintains that velocity unless a force acts on it to cause an acceleration (that is, a change in the velocity). As we have noted earlier in conjunction with the discussion of Galileo, Aristotle's view seems to be more in accord with common sense, but that is because of a failure to appreciate the role played by frictional forces. Once account is taken of all forces acting in a given situation it is the dynamics of Galileo and Newton, not of Aristotle, that are found to be in accord with the observations.

Newton's Third Law of Motion:III. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

This law is exemplified by what happens if we step off a boat onto the bank of a lake: as we move in the direction of the shore, the boat tends to move in the opposite direction (leaving us face down in the water, if we aren't careful!).

Answer 2

'Newton mass' is a term, usually called weight, that is a measure of the force on an object due to being in a gravitational field. Sir Isaac Newton pioneered seeing the physical world in terms of the interaction of forces, and the SI unity of measurement, the Newton, is named after him.

Answer 3

Quantum theory is much more general than atomic theory. Atomic theory was developed to explain the characteristics of chemical reactions and describes atoms as discrete, indivisible units, with different atoms of the same element identical. Quantum mechanics describes how things at the atomic level and below act. It deals with the fact that atoms are composed of other particles (protons and neutrons in the nucleus and electrons outside). While atomic theory acknowledges the fact that certain atoms will bind together to form compounds, quantum theory describes in detail *how and why* these bonds occur in terms of how the atoms share electrons. Quantum theory is also the basis of our modern understanding of solids, which was not addressed at all in atomic theory.

Answer 4

HE BECAME FAMOUS FOR BEING IN HISTORY AND SCIENCE. BECAUSE HE DISCOVERED AND INVENTED SO MANY THINGS DURING THE 1600s.

Answer 5

Nothing!

Quantum mechanics wasn't invented until well after Newtons death.

Answer 6

Isaac Newton gave us a scientific definition of force, which is still used today; the definition is, force equals mass times acceleration.