BY THE LATE J. CLERK MAXWELL M.A., LL.D.Epmy., F.R.SS.L. & E, HONORARY FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGF, AND PROFESSOR OF EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE REPRINTED: WITH NOTES AND APPENDICES BY SIR JOSEPH LARMOR, F.R.S. FELLOW OF ST JOHN’S COLLEGE, AND LUCASIAN PROFESSOR OF MATHEMATICS LONDON THE SHELDON PRESS NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, W.C, NEW YORK AND TORONTO: THE MACMILLAN CO. PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN 1925PREFACE (1877) Puysicat Science, which up to the end of the eighteenth century had been fully occupied in forming a conception of natural phenomena as the result of forces acting between one body and another, has now fairly entered on the next stage of progress—that in which the energy of a material system is conceived as determined by the configuration and motion of that system, and in which the ideas of configuration, motion, and force are generalised to the utmost extent warranted by their physical definitions. To become acquainted with these fundamental ideas, to examine them under all their aspects, and habitually 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 Science. The following statement of the fundamental doctrines of Matter and Motion is therefore to be regarded as an introduction to the study of Physical Science in general.NOTE In this reprint of Prof. Clerk Maxwell’s classical tractate on the principles of dynamics, the changes have been confined strictly to typographical and a few verbal improvements. After trial, the conclusion has been reached that any additions to the text would alter the flavour 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 of asterisks and other marks. A new index has heen prepared. A general exposition of this kind cannot be expected, 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 Newtonian dynamics, generalizing gradually from simple particles of matter to physical systems which are beyond complete analysis, drawn up by one of the masters of the science, with many interesting side-lights, it must retain its power of sug- gestion even though parts of 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 of dynamics has however been enlarged on the author’s own lines by the inclusion of the Chapter “On the Equations of Motion of a Connected System” from ' vol. ii of Electricity and Magnetism. For permission to make use of this chapter the thanks of the publishers are due to the Clarendon Press of the University of Oxford.viii NOTE With the same end in view two Appendices have been added by the editor. One-of them treats the Principle of Relativity of motion, which has recently become very prominent in wider physical connexions, on rather different lines from those in the text. The other aims at development of the wider aspects of the Prin- ciple of Least Action, which has been asserting its position more and more as the essential principle of con- nexion between the various domains of Theoretical Physics. These additions are of course much more advanced than the rest of the book: but they will serve to complete it by presenting the analytical side of dynamical science, on which it justly aspires to be the definite foundation for all Natural Philosophy. The editor desires to express his acknowledgment to the Cambridge University Press, and especially to Mr J. B. Peace, for assistance and attention.BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE James CLERK MaxweELL was born in Edinburgh in 1831, the only son of John Clerk Maxwell, of Glenlair, near Dalbeattie, a family property in south-west Scotland to which the son succeeded. After an early education at home, and at the University of Edinburgh, he pro- ceeded to Cambridge in 1850, first to Peterhouse, migrating afterwards to Trinity College. In the Mathematical Tripos of 1854, the Senior Wrangler was E. J. Routh, afterwards a mathematical teacher and investigator of the highest distinction, and Clerk Max- well was second: they were placed as equal soon after in the Smith’s Prize Examination. He was professor of Natural Philosophy at Aberdeen from 1856 to 1860, in King’s College, London from 1860 to 1865, and then retired to Glenlair for six years, during which the teeming ideas of his mid doubtless matured and fell into more systematic forms. He was persuaded to return into residence at Cambridge in 1871, to undertake the task of organizing the new Cavendish Laboratory. But after a time his health broke, and he died in 1879 at the age of 48 years. His scientific reputation during his lifetime was upheld mainly by British mathematical physicists, especially by the Cambridge school. But from the time that Helmholtz took up the study of his theory of electric action and light in 1870, 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 in physical science. Nowadays by universal consent his ideas, as the mathematical interpreter and continuator of Faraday, rank as the greatest advance in our understanding of the laws of the physical universe that has appearedx BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE since the time of Newton. As with Faraday, his pro- found investigations into nature were concomitant with deep religious reverence for nature’s cause. See the Life by L. Campbell and W. Garnett (Macmillan, 1882). The treatise on Electricity and Magnetism and the Theory of Heat contain an important part of his work. His Scientific Papers were republished by the Cam- bridge University Press in two large memorial volumes. There are many important letters from him in the Memoir and Scientific Correspondence of Sir George Stokes, Cambridge, 1904. The characteristic portrait here reproduced, perhaps for the first time, is from a carte de visite photograph taken probably during his London period.> WONIAUAW NHB 20 21 22 23 24 26 27 28 29 30 32 33 34 35 CONTENTS CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 3 ‘Nature of Physical Science Definition of a Material System. Definition of Internal and External Definition of Configuration Diagrams . : A Material Particle Relative Position of two Material Particles Vectors. System of Three Particles” Addition of Vectors Subtraction of one Vector ‘from another Origin of Vectors. Relative Position of Two Systems | Taree Data for the Comparison of Two Systems On the Idea of Space Error of Descartes On the Idea of Time Absolute Space . Statement of the ‘General Maxim of Physical Science CHAPTER II ON MOTION Definition of Displacement Diagram of Displacement Relative Displacement Uniform Displacement | On Motion . On the Continuity of Motion On Constant Velocity On the Measurement of Velocity when Variable Diagram of Velocities Properties of the Diagram of Velocities” Meaning of the Phrase “At Rest” . On Change of Velocity On Acceleration . . On the Rate of Acceleration Diagram of Accelerations . Acceleration a Relative Term : ob WON AAUUAALWHDOHxii CONTENTS CHAPTER III ON FORCE ART. PAGE 36 Kinematics and Kinetics . - 26 37 Mutual Action between Two Bodies—Stress > 26 38 External Force + = 5 26 39 Different Aspects of the same Phenomenon | 227 40 Newton'’sLawsof Motion . . . + . 1 27 41 The First Law of Motion Dolo of of fof 28 42 On the Equilibrium of Fores) 1 1 2 2 . 30 43 Definition of EqualTimes . | > 2) )) 3x 44 The Second Law of Motion | : + Be 45 Definition of Equal Masses and of Equal Forces 2 32 48 Measurement of Mass, re) 47 Numerical Measurement of Force | fos 35. 48 Simultaneous Action of Forcesona Body : 1 1 36 49 On Impulse toe eB 50 Relation between Force and Mass - soe B! 5r On Momentum . 1 38 52 Statement of the Second Law of Motion in Terms of Impulse and Momentum. : 39 53 Addition of Forces. fof ff B39 54 The Third Law of Motion” 40 55 Action and Reaction are the Partial Aspects of a Stress. 40 56 Attraction and Repulsion + at 37 The Third Law True of Action ata Distance 1 1 42 58 Newton’s Proof not Experimental. . . > 1 42 CHAPTER IV ON THE PROPERTIES OF THE CENTRE OF MASS OF A MATERIAL SYSTEM 59 Definition of a Mass-Vector . . . . . . 60 Centre of Mass of Two Particles . . . . . 6r Centre of Mass of a System 62 Momentum represented as the Rate of Change ofa 63 Eatect of 1 of 3 Baternal Forces on the Motion of the Centre Mas: 64 The Motion of the Centre’ of Mass of a System is not affected by the Mutual Action of the Parts of the System : 65 First and Second Laws of Motion fofot 66 Method of treating Systems of Molecules . . . 4 48ART. 72 73 74 75 76 77 3 79 80 8r 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 or 92 93, 94 95 96 97 CONTENTS xiii . PAGE By the Introduction of the Idea of Mass we pass from Point-Vectors, Point Displacements, Velocities, Total Accelerations, and Rates of Acceleration, to Mass-Vectors, Mass Displacements, Momenta, Im- pulses, and Moving Forces . ar) Definition of a Mass-Area toe + 50 ‘Angular Momentum. Doo fof or Moment of a Force abouta Point | =: 4) 0.) 3r Conservation of Angular Momentum . . «52 CHAPTER V ON WORK AND ENERGY Definitions . . see 5 Principle of Conservation of Energy 34 General Statement of the Principle o of the Conservation of Energy : hoe 55 Measurement of Work 1 2 2) 1 2 36 Potential Energy see re) Kinetic Energy. . : 1 38 Oblique Forces . . 60 Kinetic Energy of Two "Particles referred to their Centre of Mass 6r Kinetic Energy of a Material System referred to its Centre of Mass . eee » 62 Available Kinetic Energy eee eee 63 Potential Energy. oe oe ts. 65 Elasticity. soe ee : 65 ‘Action at a Distance |! 66 Theory of Potential Energy more complicated than that of Kinetic Energy . 67 Application of the Method of Energy to the Calculation of Forces . - 68 Specification of the [Mode of Action] of Forces | | 69 Application to a System in Motion 70 ‘Application of the Method of Energy to the Investigation of Real Bodies + re Variables on which the Energy depends 2. 71 Energy in Terms of the Variables. . . . . 72 Theory of Heat. woe Heat a Form of Energy |. : : 3 Energy Measured as i [83 Scientific Work tobe done... one History of the Doctrine of Energy. 5 5 ss 75 On the Different Forms of Energy. . . . « 76327 Newton’s Method x28 KeplersLaws . |: 30 Motion about the Centre of Mass CONTENTS Relativity of Dynamical Knowledge Relativity of Force . _ oe CHAPTER VI RECAPITULATION ” Retrospect of Abstract ot Dynamics oe eee Kinematics... woot Fores Str Dot : Rotation. Newton's Determination ¢ of the Absolute Velocity of Rotation . . . Foucault's Pendulum + 1) of. Matter and Energy . ee Test of a Material Substance_ Dolo. Energy not capable of Identification Absolute Value of the Energy of a Body unknown Latent Energy - A Complete Discussion of Energy “woul include th whole of Physical Science. . . CHAPTER VII THE PENDULUM AND GRAVITY Qn Uniform Motion ina Circle 9... Centrifugal Force. . ~. + Periodic Time . tone On Simple Harmonic Vibrations | On the Force acting on the Vibrating Body ” Isochronous Vibrations Potential Energy of the Vibrating Bod The Simple Pendulum. . 7 ARigid Pendulum . . 1 1. Inversion of the Pendulum . .. Illustration of Kater's Pendulum . Determination of the Intensity of Gravity Method of Observation. . Dole Estimation of Error. ss} ee ee CHAPTER VIII UNIVERSAL GRAVITATION 329 Angular Velocity Dopod 105 105 06 106CONTENTS xv ART, . PAGE m3 TheOrbit . 2 6. 6 1 ee kk TO 132 The Hodograph eee ee 107 133 Kepler's Second Law eee ee 108 134 ForceonaPlanet 2 2 1 . . , wT 135 Interpretation of Kepler’s ThirdLaw . . . . 110 136 LawofGravitation » ww ww sd 137 Amended Form of Kepler's Third Law + + Gy IZ 138 Potential Energy due to Gravitation 2 TZ, 139 Kinetic Energy of the System ts ele CU 140 Potential Energy of the System 2. 1g. 141 The MoonisaHeavy Body . . . . . . 415 142 Cavendish’s Experiment . . . . . . . 116 143 The Torsion Balance . eee ee . m7 .144 Method of the Experiment . . . . . . 118 145 Universal Gravitation 2. 2. . . 1. OQ 146 Cause of Gravitation . 120 147 Application of Newton’s Method of Investigation tre 148 Methods of Molecular Investigations . . . . 122 149 Importance of Genera] and Elementary Properties . 122 [CHAPTER IX] ON THE EQUATIONS OF MOTION OF A CON- NECTED SYSTEM . . «© «123° APPENDIX I THE RELATIVITY OF THE FORCES OF NATURE 137 APPENDIX IT THE PRINCIPLE OF LEASTACTION . . «45 INDEX 162 Portrait of Prof. CLERK MAXWELL . . FrontispieceMATTER AND MOTION CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1. NaTuRE OF PuysicaL ScIENCE PuystcaL Science is that department of knowledge which relates to the order of nature, or, in other words, to the regular succession of events. The name of physical science, however, is often applied in a more or less restricted manner to those branches of science in which the phenomena considered are of the simplest and most abstract kind, excluding the consideration of the more complex phenomena, such as those observed in living beings. The simplest case of all is that in which an event or 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 osition relative to the earth in the order in which they ‘ollow one another. In other cases we may know that some change of arrangement has taken place, but we may not be able to ascertain what that change is. Thus when water freezes we know that the molecules or smallest parts of the substance must be arranged differently 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 of symmetrical crystals, but we have as yet no precise knowledge of the actual arrangement of the molecules in ice. But whenever we can completely describe the change of M. t2 INTRODUCTION [ox. arrangement we have a knowledge, perfect so far as it extends, of what has taken place, though we may still have to learn the necessary conditions under which a similar event will always take place. Hence the first part of physical science relates to the relative position and motion of bodies. 2. DEFINITION OF A MATERIAL SysTEM In all scientific procedure we begin by marking out a certain region or subject as the field of our investiga~ tions. To this we must confine our attention, leaving the rest of the universe out of account till we have completed the investigation in which we are engaged,- In physical science, therefore, the first step is to defins~ clearly the material system which we make the subjeet of our statements. This system may be of any degree of complexity. It may be a single material particle, a body of finite size, or any number of such bodies, and it may even be extended so as to include the whole material universe. 3, DEFINITION oF INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL All relations or actions between one part of this sys- tem and another are called Internal relations or actions. Those between the whole or any part of the system and bodies not included in the system are called Exter- nal relations or actions. These we study only so far as they affect the system itself, leaving their effect on externdl bodies out of consideration. Relations and actions between bodies not included in the system are to be left out of consideration. We cannot investigate them except by making our system include these other ics. 4. DEFINITION of CoNFIGURATION When a material system is considered with respect te the relative Position of its parts, the assemblage of relative positions is called the Configuration of theq] CONFIGURATION 3 A knowledge of the configuration of the system at a given instant implies a knowledge of the position of every point of the system with respect to every other point at that instant. 5. DiacRams The configuration of material systems may be repre- sented in models, plans, or diagrams. The model or diagram is supposed to resemble the material system only in form, not necessarily in any other respect. A plan or a map represents on paper in two dimen- ‘sions what may really be in three dimensions, and can only be completely represented by a model. We shall use the term Diagram to signify any geometrical figure, whether plane or not, by means of which we study the properties of a material system. Thus, when we speak of the configuration of a system, the image which we form in our minds is that of a diagram, which completely represents the configuration, but which has none of the other properties of the material system. Besides dia- grams of configuration we may have diagrams of velocity, of stress, etc., which do not represent the form of the system, but by means of-which its relative velocities or its internal forces may be studied. * 6. A MATERIAL PARTICLE A body so small that, for the purposes of our investi- gation, the distances between its different parts may be neglected, is called a material particle. ‘hus in certain astronomical investigations the planets, and even the sun, may be regarded each as a material particle, because the difference of the actions of different parts of these bodies does not come under our notice. But we cannot treat them as material particles when we investigate their rotation. Even an atom, when we consider it as capable of rotation, must be regarded as consisting of many material particles. The diagram of a material particle is of course a mathematical point, which has no configuration. i—4 INTRODUCTION [cu. 7. RELATIVE Position oF TWO MATERIAL ParTICLEs The diagram of two material particles consists of two points, as, for instance, A and B. The position of B relative to A is indicated by the direction and length of the straight line AB drawn from A to B. If you start from A and travel in the direction indicated by the line AB and for a distance equal to the length of that line, you will get to B. This direction and distance may be indicated equally well by any other line, such as ab, which is parallel and equal to AB. The position of A with respect to B is indicated by the direction and length of the line BA, drawn from B to A, or the line ba, equal and parallel to BA. _ __ It is evident that BA = — AB. In naming a line by the letters at its extremities,’ the order of the letters is always that in which the line; is to be drawn. : 8. VecToRSs The expression AB, in geometry, is merely the name of a line. Here it indicates'the operation by which the line is drawn, that of carrying a tracing point in a certain direction for a certain distance. As. indicating an operation, AB is called a Vector, and! the operation is completely defined by the direction: and distance of the transference. The starting point,: which is called the Origin of the vector, may be any-¢ where. . To define a finite straight line we must state its origin as well as its direction and length. All vectors, however, are regarded as equal which are parallel (and drawn towards the same parts) and of the same magni- tude. Any quantity, such, for instance, as a velocity or aq “VECTORS 5 force*, which has a definite direction and a definite magnitude may be treated as a vector, and may be indicated in a diagram by a straight line whose direction is parallel to the vector, and whose length represents, according to a determinate scale, the mag- nitude of the vector. g. SysTEM OF ‘THREE PARTICLES Let us next consider a system of three particles. Its configuration is represented by a diagram of three points, A, B, C. The position of B with respect to D Cc A is indicated by the vector AB, and that of C with respect to B by the vector BC. A ‘B It is manifest that from these data, Fig. 1. when A is known, we can find B and then C, so that the configuration of the three points is completely determined. The position of C with respect to A is indicated by the vector AC, and by the last remark the value of AC must be deducible from those of 4B and BC. The result of the operation AC is to carry the tracing point from A to C. But the result is the same if the tracing point is carried first from A to B and then from B to C, and this is the sum of the operations AB + BC. 10. ADDITION OF VECTORS Hence the rule for the addition of vectors may be stated thus:—From any point as origin draw the suc- cessive vectors in series, so that each vector begins at the end of the preceding one. The straight line from ‘the origin to the extremity of the series represents the vector which is the sum of the vectors. * A force is more completely specified as a vector localised in its line of action, called by Clifford a rotor; moreover it is only when the body on which it acts is treated as rigid that the point of application is inessential.6 INTRODUCTION [cH. The order of addition is indifferent, for if we write BC + AB the operation indicated may be performed by drawing AD parallel and equal to BC, and then joining DC, which, by Euclid, I. 33, is parallel and equal to AB, so that by these two operations we arrive at the point C in whichever order we perform them. The same is true for any number of vectors, take them in what order we please. 11, SUBTRACTION OF ONE VECTOR FROM ANOTHER To express the position of C with respect to B in terms of the positions of B and C with respect to A, we observe that we can get from B to C either by passing along the straight line BC or by passing from B to A and then from A to C. Hence BC-BA+ ac = AC + BA since the order of addition is indifferent _ = AC — AB since AB is equal and opposite to BA. Or the vector BC, which expresses the position of C with respect to B, is found by subtracting the vector of B from the vector of C, these vectors being ‘drawn to B and C respectively from any common origin A. 12. ORIGIN OF VECTORS The positions of any number of particles belonging to a material system may be defined by means of the vectors drawn to each of these partickes from some one point. This point is called the origin of the vectors, or, more briefly, the Origin. This system of vectors determines the configura- tion of the whole system; for if we wish to know the position of any point B with respect to any other point A, it may be found from the vectors OA and OB by the equation AB = OB-OA.1] RELATIVE POSITION 7 We may choose any point whatever for the origin, and there is for the present no reason why we should choose one point rather than another. The configura- tion of the system—that is to say, the position of its parts with respect to each other—remains the same, whatever point be chosen as origin. Many inquiries, however, are simplified by a proper selection of the origin. 13. RELATIVE PostT1on or Two Systems If the configurations of two different systems are known, each system having its own origin, and if we then wish to include P both systems in a larger system, having, say, the sarhe origin as the first of the two systems, we must o- ascertain the position of the origin of the second system with respect to that of the first, and we must be able to draw lines in the second system parallel to those in the first. Then by Article 9 the position of a point P of the second system, with respect to the first origin, O, is represented by the sum of the vector O’P of that point with respect to the second origin, O’, and the vector OO’ of the second origin, O’, with respect to the first, O. -O Fig. 2. 14. Tree DaTA FOR THE COMPARISON OF ~ Two SysTEms . We have an instance of this formation of a large system out of two or more smaller systems, when two neighbouring nations, having each surveyed and mapped its own territory, agree to connect their sur- veys so as to include both countries in one system. For this purpose three things are necessary. 1st. A-comparison of the origin selected by the one country with that selected by the other. 2nd. A comparison of the directions of reference used in the two countries.8 INTRODUCTION [cw. 3rd. A comparison of the standards of length used in the two countries. 1. In civilised countries latitude is always reckoned from the equator, but longitude is reckoned from an arbitrary point, as Greenwich or Paris. Therefore, to make the map of Britain fit that of France, we must ascertain the difference of longitude between the Observatory of Greenwich and that of Paris. 2. When a survey has been made without astro- nomical instruments, the directions of reference have sometimes been those given by the magnetic compass. This was, I believe, the case in the original surveys of some of the West India islands. The results of this survey, though giving correctly the local configuration of the island, could not be made to fit properly into a general map of the world till the deviation’ of the magnet from the true north at the time of the survey was ascertained, 3. To compare the survey of France with that of Britain, the metre, which is the French standard of length, must be compared with the yard, which is the British standard of length. " The yard is defined by Act of Parliament 18 and 1g Vict. c. 72, July 30, 1855, which enacts “that the straight line or distance between the centres of the transverse lines in the two gold plugs in the bronze bar deposited in the office of the Exchequer shall be the genuine standard yard at 62° Fahrenheit, and if lost, it shall be replaced by means of its copies.” ‘The metre derives its authority from a law of the French Republic in 1795. It is defined to be the distance between the ends of a certain rod of platinum miade by Borda, the rod being at the temperature ot melting ice. It has been found by the measurements of Captain Clarke that the metre is equal to 39°37043 British inches.q SPACE 9 15. ON THE Ipza or Space* We have now gone through most of the things to be attended to with respect to the configuration of a material system. There remain, however, a few points relating to the metaphysics of the subject, which have a very important bearing on physics. We have described the method of combining several configurations into one system which includes them all. 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 or by being carried. To these we add those of which we learn by the reports of others, and those inaccessible regions whose positions we ascertain only by a process of calculation, till at last we recognise that every place has a definite position with respect to every other place, whether the one place is accessible from the other or not. Thus from measurements made on the earth’s surface we deduce the position of the centre of the earth relative to known objects, and we calculate the number of cubic miles in the earth’s volume quite independently of any hypothesis as to what may exist at the centre of the earth, or in any other place beneath that thin layer of the crust of-the earth which alone we can directly explore. 16. ERROR OF DESCARTES It appears, then, that the distance between one thing and another does not depend on any material thing between them, as Descartes seems to assert when he says (Princip. Phil., II. 18) that if that which is in a hollow vessel were taken out of it without anything * Following Newton’s method of exposition in the Principia, a space is assumed and a flux of time is assumed, forming together a framework into which the dynamical explanation of phenomena is set. Itis part of the problem of physical astronomy to test this assumption, and to determine this frame with increasing precision. Its philosophical basis can be regarded as a different subject, to which the recent discussions on relativity as regards space and time would be attached. See Appendix I.10. INTRODUCTION [cu. entering to fill its place, the sides of the vessel, having nothing between them, would be in contact. This assertion is grounded on the dogma of Des- cartes, that the extension in length, breadth, and depth which constitute space is the sole essential property of matter. ‘‘The nature of matter,” he tells us, “or of body considered generally, does not consist in a thing being hard, or heavy, or coloured, but only in its being extended in length, breadth, and depth” (Princip., II. 4). By thus confounding the properties of matter~ with those of space, he arrives at the logical conclusion that if the matter within a vessel could be entirely removed, the space within the vessel would no longer exist. In fact he assumes that all space must be always full of matter. I have referred to this opinion of Descartes in order ~ to show the importance of sound views: in elementary dynamics. The primary property of matter was in- deed. distinctly announced by Descartes in what he calls the “First Law of Nature” (Princip., II. 37): “That every individual thing, so far as in it lies, per- severes in the same state, whether of motion or of rest.””* We shall see when we come to Newton’s laws of motion that in the words “‘so far as in it lies,” pro- perly understood, is to be found the true primary definition of matter, and the true measure of its quantity. Descartes, however, never attained to a full under- standing of his own words (quantum in se est), and so fell back on his original confusion of matter with space —space being, according to him, the only form of substance, and all existing things but affections of space. This errort runs through every part of Descartes’ great work, and it forms one of the ultimate foundations of the system of Spinoza. I shall not attempt to trace it down to more modern times, but I would advise * Compare the idea of Least Action: Appendix II. t Some recent forms of relativity have come back to his ideas\ CE. p. 140.q TIME 1 those who study any system of metaphysics to examine carefully that part of it which deals with physical ideas. We shall find it more conducive to scientific pro- gress to recognise, with Newton, the ideas of time and space as distinct, at least in thought, from that of the material system whose relations these ideas serve to co-ordinate*. 17. ON THE IpEa oF TIME The idea of Time in its most primitive form is pro- bably the recognition of an order of sequence in our states of, consciousness. If my memory were perfect, I might be able to refer every event within my own experience to its proper place in a chronological series. But it would be difficult, if not impossible, for me to compare the interval between one pair of events and that between another pair—to ascertain, for instance, whether the time during which I can work without feeling tired is greater or less now than when I first began to study. By our intercourse with other persons, and by our experience of natural processes which go on in a uniform or a rhythmical manner, we come to recognise the possibility of arranging a system of chronology in which all events whatever, whether re- lating to ourselves or to others, must find their places. f any two events, say the actual disturbance at the star in Corona Borealis, which caused the luminous effects examined spectroscopically by Mr Huggins on the 16th May, 1866, and the mental suggestion which first led Professor Adams or M. Leverrier to begin the researches which led to the discovery, by Dr Galle, on the 23rd September, 1846, of the planet Neptune, the first named must have occurred either before or after the other, or else at the same time. Absolute, true, and mathematical Time is conceived by Newton as flowing at a constant rate, unaffected by the speed or slowness of the motions of material things. * See Appendix I.12 INTRODUCTION [cu. It is also called Duration. Relative, apparent, and common time is duration as estimated by the motion of bodies, as by days, months, and years. These measures of time may be regarded as provisional, for the progress of astronomy has taught us to measure the - inequality in the lengths of days, months, and years, and thereby to reduce the apparent time to a more™ uniform scale, called Mean Solar Time. 18. ABSOLUTE SPACE Absolute space is conceived as remaining always similar to itself and immovable. The arrangement of the parts of space can no more be altered than the order of the portions of time. To conceive them to move from their places is to conceive a place to move away from itself. But as there is nothing to distinguish one portion of time from another except the different events which occur in them, so there is nothing to distinguish one part of space from another except its relation to the place of material bodies. We cannot describe the time of an event except by reference to some other event, or the place of a body except by reference to some other body. All our knowledge, both of time and place, is essentially relative*. When a man has acquired the habit of putting words together, without troubling himself to form the thoughts which ought to correspond to them, it is easy for him to frame an antithesis between this relative knowledge and a so-called absolute know- Jedge, and to point out our ignorance of the absolute Peston of a point as an instance of the limitation of our ties. Any one, however, who will try to imagine the state of a mind conscious of knowing the absolute position of a point will ever after be content with our telative knowledge. The position seems to be that our knowledge is relative, but feeds definite space and time as a frame for its coherent ex- pression.q GENERAL MAXIM 3 19. STATEMENT OF THE GENERAL Maxim OF PrysicaL SCIENCE There is a maxim which is often quoted, that “The same causes will always produce the same effects.” To make this maxim intelligible we must define what we mean by the same causes and the same effects, since it is manifest that no event ever happens more than once, so that the causes and effects cannot be the same in all respects. What is really meant is that if the causes differ only as regards the absolute time or the absolute place at which the event occurs, so likewise will the effects. The following statement, which is equivalent to the above maxim, appears to be more definite, more ex- plicitly connected with the ideas of space and time, and more capable of application to particular cases: “The difference between one event and another does not depend on the mere difference of the times or the places at which they occur, but only on differences in the nature, configuration, or motion of the bodies con- cerned.” It follows from this, that if an event has occurred at a given time and place it is possible for an event exactly similar to occur at any other time and place. There is another maxim which must not be con- founded with that quoted at the beginning of this article, which asserts “That like causes produce like effects.” This is only true when small variations in the initial circumstances produce only small variations in the final state of the system*. In a great many physical pheno- mena this condition is satisfied; but there are other * This implies that it is only in so far as stability subsists that principles of natural law can be formulated: it thus perhaps puts 4 limitation on any postulate of universal physical determinacy such as Laplace was credited with.4 INTRODUCTION [ou.1 cases in which a small initial variation may produce a very great change in the final state of the system, as when the displacement of the “points” causes a railway train to run into another instead of keeping its proper course*. * We may perhaps say that the observable regularities of nature belong to statistical molecular phenomena which have settled down into permanent stable conditions. In so far as the weather may be due to an unlimited assemblage of local in- stabilities, it may not be amenable to a finite scheme of law at all.CHAPTER II ON MOTION 20. DEFINITION OF DisPLACEMENT We have already compared the position of different points of a system at the same instant of time. We have next to compare the position of a point at a given instant with its position at a former instant, called the Epoch. The vector which indicates the final position of a point with respect to its position at the epoch is called the Displacement of that point. Thus if A, is the initial and A, the final position of the point A, the line 4,4, is the displacement of A, and any vector oa drawn from the origin o parallel and equal to.4,A, indicates this dis- placement. 21. Dracram oF DIsPLACEMENT If another point of the system is displaced from B, to B, the vector ob paral- B. lel and equal to B,B, : . indicates the displace- ment of B. . A As In like manner the displacement of any number of points may be represented by vec- tors drawn from the b By same origin 0, This system of vectors is called the Diagram of 2 Displacement. It is + not necessary to draw actual linesto represent a these vectors; itissuffi- - o . cient to indicate the Fig. 3- ppints-a, 5, etc., at the extremities of the vectors. The16 ON MOTION [cH. diagram of displacement may therefore be regarded as consisting of a number of points, a, 6, etc., correspond- ing with the material particles, A, B, etc., belonging to the system, together with a point 0, the position of which is arbitrary, and which is the assumed origin of all the vectors. 22. RELATIVE DISPLACEMENT The line ab in the diagram of displacement repre- sents the displacement of the point B with respect to A. For if in the diagram of displacement (fig. 3) we draw ak parallel and equal to ByAj, and in the same direction, and join Ab, it is easy to show that &b is equal and parallel to 4,B,. _ For the vector Ad is the sum of the vectors ka, ao, and ob, and A,B, is the sum of A,A;, A,B,, and ByB,. But of these ka is the same as A,B,, ao is the same as A,Aj, and ob is the same as B,B,, and by Article 10 the order of summation is indifferent, so that the vector Ab is the same, in direction and magni- tude, as A,B,. Now ka or A,B, represents the original position of B with respect to A, and &b or A,B, represents the final position of B with respect to A. Hence ab represents the displacement of B with respect to A, which was to be proved. of In Article 20 we purposely. omitted to say whether the origin to which the original configuration was referred. and that to which the final configuration is” referred, are absolutely the same point, or whether, during the displacement of the system, the origin also is displaced. : ‘We may now, for the sake of argument, suppose set the origin is absolutely fixed, and that the displace, ments represented by oa, ob, etc., are the absolute digi- placements. To pass from this case to that in whichmi] DISPLACEMENT 7 the origin is displaced we have only to take A, one of the movable points, as origin. The absolute displace- ment of A being represented by 0a, the displacement of B with respect to A is represented, as we have seen, by ab, and so on for any other points of the system. The arrangement of the points a, 5, etc., in the dia- gram of displacement is therefore the same, whether we reckon the displacements with respect to a fixed point or a displaced point; the only difference is that we adopt a different origin of vectors in the diagram of displacement, the rule being that whatever point we take, whether fixed or moving, for the origin of the diagram of configuration, we take the corresponding point as origin in the diagram of displacement. If we wish to indicate the fact that we are entirely ignorant of the absolute displacement in space of any point of the system, we may do so by constructing the diagram of displacement as a mere system of points, without indicating in any way which of them we take as the origin. This diagram of displacement (without an origin) will then represent neither more nor less than all we can ever know about the displacement of the system. It consists simply of a number of points, a, 5, c, etc., corresponding to the points A, B, C, etc., of the material system, and a vector, as ab represents the displacement of B with respect to A. 23. Uniform? DisPLACEMENT When the displacements of all points of a material system with respect to an external point are the same in direction and. magnitude, the diagram of displace- P*at is reduced“s9 two points—one corresponding to ® external point, and the other to each and every point \the displaced system. In this case the points of the 4 When the simultaneous values of a quantity for different jlies or places are equal, the quantity is said to be uniformly ijributed in space. M. 218 ON MOTION [cu. system are not displaced with respect to one another, but only with respect to the ‘external point. This is the kind of displacement which occurs when a body of invariable form moves parallel to itself. It may be called uniform displacement. 24. ON MoTIon When the change of configuration of a system is considered with respect only to its state at the beginning and the end of the process of change, and without reference to the time during which it takes place, it is called the displacement of the system. When we turn our attention to the process of change itself, as taking place during a certain time and in a continuous manner, the change of configuration is ascribed to the motion of the system. 25. ON THE ConTinuITy or MoTION When a material particle is displaced so as to pass from one position to another, it can only do so by travelling along some course or path from the one position to the other. At any instant during the motion the particle will be found at some one point PO R of the path, and if we se- lect any point of the path, Ye 5 BS the particle will pass that A D point onceat least* during Fig. 4. its motion. . " This is what is meant by saying that the particle describes a continuous path. The motion of a material particle which has continuous existence in time and space is the type and exempi”™~ of every form of continuity. ~ { 1 If the path cuts itself so as to form a loop, as P, Q, R (fig. the particle will pass the point of intersection, Q, twice, and the particle returns on its own path, as in the path 4, B, C, D,| may pass the same point, S, three or more times.u] VELOCITY 19 26. On Constant} VELOcITY If the motion of a particle is such that in equal intervals of time, however short, the displacements of the particle are equal and in the same direction, the particle is said to move with constant velocity. It is manifest that in this case the path of the body will be a straight line, and the length of any part of the path will be proportional to the time of describing it. The rate or speed of the motion is called the velocity of the particle, and its magnitude is expressed by saying that it is such a distance in such a time, as, for instance, ten miles an hour, or one metre per second. In general we select a unit of time, such as a second, and measure velocity by the distance described in unit of time. If one metre be described in a second and if the velocity be constant, a thousandth or a millionth of a metre will be described in a thousandth or a millionth of a second. Hence, if we can observe or calculate the displacement during any interval of time, however short, we may deduce the distance which would be described in a longer time with the same velocity. This result, which enables us to state the velocity during the short interval of time, does not depend on the body’s actually continuing to move at the same rate during the longer time. Thus we may know that a body is moving at the rate of ten miles an hour, though its motion at this rate may last for only the hundredth of a second. 27. ON THE MEASUREMENT OF VELOCITY WHEN VARIABLE When the velocity of a particle is not constant, its *alue at any given instant is measured by the distance which would be described in unit of time by a body having the same velocity as that which the particle has at that instant. 1 When the successive values of a quantity for successive instants of time are equal, the quantity is said to be constant. 2220 ON MOTION [cu. Thus when we say that at a given instant, say one second after a body has begun to fall, its velocity is 980 centimetres per second, we mean that if the velocity of a particle were constant and equal to that of the falling body at the given instant, it would describe 980 centi- metres in a second. It is specially important to understand what is meant by the velocity or rate of motion of a body, because the ideas which are suggested to our minds by considering the motion of a particle are those which Newton made use of in his method of Fluxions}, and they lie at the foundation of the great extension of exact science which has taken place in modern times. 28. D1acram OF VELOCITIES If the velocity of each of the bodies in the system is constant, and if we compare the configurations of the - system at an interval of a unit of time, then the displace- ments, being those produced in unit of time in bodies moving with constant velocities, will represent those velocities according to the method of measurement described in Article 26. If the velocities do not actually continue constant for a unit of time, then we must imagine another system consisting of the same number of bodies, and in which the velocities are the same as those of the corresponding bodies of the system at the given instant, but remain constant for a unit of time. The displacements of this system represent the velocities of the actual system at the given instant. Another mode of obtaining the diagram of velocities of a system at a given instant is to take a small interval of time, say the mth part of the unit of time, so that the middle of this interval corresponds to the given’ + According to the method of Fluxions, when the value of one quantity depends on that of another, the rate of variation of the first quantity with respect to the second may be expressed as a velocity, by imagining the first quantity to represent the displace- ment of a particle, while the second flows uniformly with the time.a] DIAGRAM OF VELOCITIES 21 instant. Take the diagram of displacement corre- sponding to this interval and magnify all its dimensions n times. The result will be a diagram of the mean velocities of the system during the interval. If we now suppose the number 7 to increase without limit the interval will diminish without limit, and the mean velocities will approximate without limit to the actual velocities at the given instant. Finally, when n becomes infinite the diagram will represent accurately the velo- cities at the given instant. 29. PROPERTIES OF THE D1acRaM OF VELOciTIEs (fig. 5) The diagram of velocities for a system consisting of a number of material particles consists of a number of points, each corresponding to one of the particles. A. B Dracram or CONFIGURATION, Ce op. ae Ce Dracram or Vetocitizs, Or de . Fig. 5. The velocicy of any particle B with respect to any other, A, is represented in direction and magnitude by the line ab in the diagram of velocities, drawn from the point a, corresponding to A, to the point 4, corresponding to B. We may in this way find, by means of the diagram, the relative velocity of any two particles. The diagram tells us nothing about the absolute velocity of any point; it expresses exactly what we can know about the motion and no more. If we choose to imagine that22 ON MOTION [cH. oa represents the absolute velocity of A, then the absolute velocity of any other particle, B, will be repre- serited by the vector ob, drawn from o as origin to the point 6, which corresponds to B. But as it is impossible to define the position of a body except with respect to the position of some point of reference, so it is impossible to define the velocity of a body, except with respect to the velocity of the point of reference. The phrase absolute velocity has as little meaning as absolute position. It is better, therefore, not to distinguish any point in the diagram of velocities as the origin, but to regard the diagram as expressing the relations of all the velocities without defining the absolute value of any one of them. 30. MEANING OF THE Purase “Ar Rest” It is true that when we say that a body is at rest we use a form of words which appears to assert something about that body considered in itself, and we might imagine that the velocity of another body, if reckoned with respect to a body at rest, would be its true and only oe velocity. But the phrase “at rest” means in ordinary language “having no velocity with respect to that on which the body stands,” EA for instance, the surface of the earth or the deck of a ship. It cannot be made to mean more than this. It is therefore unscientific to distinguish between rest and motion, as between two different states of a body in itself, since it is impossible to speak of a body being at rest or in motion except with reference, ex- pressed or implied, to some other body. 31. On Cuance or VeLociry As we have compared the velocities of different bodies at the same time, so we may compare the relative velocity of one body with respect’to another at different times,u] ACCELERATION 23 If ay, by, cy, be the diagram of velocities of the system of bodies A, B, C, in its original state, and if ay, bo, Coy be the diagram of velocities in the final state of the system, then if we take any point w as origin age and draw wa equal a and parallel to a,a., 5,9 wB equal and parallel c by to b,b,, wy equal and " Cage parallel to cyc., and so on, we shall form a diagram of points a, B, y, etc., such that any line aB in this ., Be a diagram represents in Ye direction and magni- Fig. 6. tude the change of the velocity of B with respect to A. This diagram may be called the diagram of Total Accelerations. 32. ON ACCELERATION The word Acceleration is here used to denote any change in the velocity, whether that change be an in- crease, a diminution, or a change of direction. Hence, instead of distinguishing, as in ordinary language, between the acceleration, the retardation, and the deflexion of the motion of a body, we say that the acceleration may be in the direction of motion, in the contrary direction, or transverse to that direction. As the displacement of a system is defined to be the change of the configuration of the system, so the Total * Acceleration of the system is defined to be the change of the velocities of the system. The process of constructing the diagram of total accelerations by a comparison of the initial and final diagrams of velocities is the same24. ON MOTION [cH. as that by which the diagram of displacement was constructed by a comparison of the initial and final diagrams of configuration. 33. ON THE RaTE OF ACCELERATION We have hitherto been considering the total accelera- tion which takes place during a certain interval of time. If the rate of acceleration is constant, it is measured by the total acceleration in a unit of time. If the rate of acceleration is variable, its value at a -given instant is measured by the total acceleration in unit of time of a point whose acceleration is constant and equal to that of the particle at the given instant. It appears from this definition that the method of deducing the rate of acceleration from a knowledge of the total acceleration in any given time is precisely analogous to that by which the velocity at any instant is deduced from a knowledge of the displacement. in any given time. ‘he diagram of total accelerations constructed for an interval of the nth part of the unit of time, and then magnified m times, is a diagram of the mean rates of acceleration during that interval, and by taking the interval smaller and smaller, we ultimately arrive at the true rate of acceleration at the middle of that interval. As rates of acceleration have to be considered in physical science much more frequently than total ac- celerations, the word acceleration has come to be employed in the sense in which we have hitherto used the phrase rate of acceleration. In future, therefore, when we use the word accelera- tion without qualification, we mean what we have here described as the rate of acceleration.1] ACCELERATION 25 34. DracRaM OF ACCELERATIONS The diagram of accelerations is a system of points, each of which corresponds to one of the bodies of the material system, and is such that any line af in the diagram represents the rate of acceleration of the body B with respect to the body A. It may be well to observe here that in the diagram of configuration we use the capital letters, 4, B, C, etc., to indicate the relative position of the bodies of the system; in the diagram of velocities we use the small letters, 2, b, c, etc., to indicate the relative velocities of these bodies; and in the diagram of accelerations we use the Greek letters, a, 8, y, etc., to indicate their relative accelerations. 35. ACCELERATION A RELATIVE TERM Acceleration, like position and velocity, is a relative term and cannot be interpreted absolutely*. If every particle of the material universe within the reach of our means of observation were at a given instant to have its velocity altered by compounding therewith a new velocity, the same in magnitude an direction for every such particle, all the relative motions of bodies within the system would go on in a perfectly continuous manner, and neither astronomers nor physicists, though using their instruments all the while, would be able to find out that anything had happenedt. : . | It is only if the change of motion occurs in a different manner in the different bodies of the system that any event capable of being observed takes place. * A noteworthy case of relativity is Euler's investigation of the motion of a solid body as specified with reference to its own succession of instantaneous positions. + This appears to be a very drastic postulate of relativity: a universal imposed acceleration can have no effect during its occurrence only when all applied forces are proportional to mass. See Appendix I.CHAPTER III ON FORCE 36. Kinematics anp Kinetics We have hitherto been considering the motion of a system in its purely geometrical aspect. We have shown how to study and describe the motion of such a system, however arbitrary, without taking into account any of the conditions of motion which arise from the mutual action between the bodies. The theory of motion treated in this way is called Kinematics. When the mutual action between bodies is taken into account, the science of motion is called Kinetics, and when special attention is paid to force as the cause of motion, it is called Dynamics. 37. Mutvat Action Between Two Bopres—Srress The mutual action between two portions of matter receives different names according to the aspect under which it is studied, and this aspect depends on the extent of the material system which forms the subject of our attention. If we take into account the whole phenomenon of the action between the two portions of matter, we call it Stress. This stress, according to the mode in which it acts, may be described as Attraction, Repulsion, Ten- sion, Pressure, Shearing stress, Torsion, etc. 38. EXTERNAL Force But if, as in Article 2, we confine our attention to one of the portions of matter, we see, as it were, only one side of the transaction—namely, that which affects the portion of matter under our consideration—and we call this aspect of the phenomenon, with reference to its effect, an External Force acting on that portion ofcH. m1] LAWS OF MOTION 27 matter, and with reference to its cause we call it the Action of the other portion of matter. The opposite aspect of the stress is called the Reaction on the other portion of matter. 39. DirFERENT ASPECTS OF THE SAME PHENOMENON In commeréial affairs the same transaction between two parties is called Buying when we consider one party, Selling when we consider the other, and Trade when we take both parties into consideration. The accountant who examines the records of the transaction finds that the two parties have entered it on opposite sides of their respective ledgers, and in com- paring the books he must in every case bear in mind in whose interest each book is made up. For similar reasons in dynamical investigations we must always remember which of the two bodies we are dealing with, so that we may state the forces in the interest of that body, and not set down any of the forces on the wrong side of the account. 40. Newton’s Laws or Motion External or “impressed” force considered with refer- ence to its effect *—namely, the alteration of the motions of bodies—is completely defined and described in Newton’s three laws of motion. ~The first law tells us under what conditions there is no external force. The second shows us how to measure the force when it exists. The third compares the two aspects of the action between two bodies, as it affects the one body or the other. * As to its nature, a stress, or balanced set of forces, is deter- mined by the alteration of the permanent configuration of the bodies concerned, which reveals its existence and forms the basis of its statical measure; or else by some other property of matter. Ci. Art. 68.28 ON FORCE [cu. 41. THe First Law or Motion Law I—Every body perseveres in its state of rest or of moving uniformly in a straight line, except in so Sar as it is made to change that state by external forces. The experimental argument for the truth of this law is, that in every case in which we find an alteration of the state of motion of a body, we can trace this alteration to some action between that body and another, that is to say, to an external force. The existence of this action is indicated by its effect on the other body when the motion of that body can be observed. Thus the motion of a cannon ball is retarded, but this arises from an action between the projectile and the air which surrounds it, whereby the ball experiences a force in the direction opposite to its relative motion, while the air, pushed forward by an equal force, is itself set in motion, and constitutes what is called the wind of the cannon ball. But our conviction of the truth of this law may be greatly strengthened by considering what is involved in a denial of it. Given a body in motion. At a given instant let it be left to itself and not acted on by any force. What will happen? According to Newton’s law it will persevere in moving uniformly in a straight line, that is, its velocity will remain constant both in direction and magnitude. If the velocity does not remain constant let us suppose it to vary. The change of velocity, as we saw in Article 31, must have a definite direction and magni- tude. By the maxim of Article 19 this variation must be the same whatever be the time or place of the experiment. The direction of the change of motion must therefore be determined either by the direction of the, motion itself, or by some direction fixed in the ‘ody. Let us, in the first place, suppose the law to be that the velocity diminishes at a certain rate, which for the1] FIRST LAW OF MOTION 29 sake of the argument we may suppose so slow that by no experiments on moving bodies could we have detected the diminution of velocity in hundreds of years. The velocity referred to in this hypothetical law can only be the velocity referred to a point absolutely at rest. For if it is a relative velocity its direction as well as its magnitude depends on the velocity of the 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 point moving northward with a uniform velocity greater than that of the body, and it will appear to be moving southward with in- creasing velocity. Hence the hypothetical law is without meaning, un- less we admit the possibility of defining absolute rest and absolute velocity*. Even if we admit this as a possibility, the hypothetical law, if found to be true, might be interpreted, not as a contradiction of Newton’s law, but as evidence of the resisting action of some medium in space. To take another case. Suppose the law to be that a body, not acted on by any force, ceases at once to move. This is not only contradicted by experience, but it leads to a definition of absolute rest as the state which a body assumes as soon as it is freed from the action of ex- ternal forces. It may thus be shown that the denial of Newton’s law is in contradiction to the only system of consistent doctrine about space and time which the human mind has been able to form. * An aether might do this. But even in Maxwell's aether an isolated body losing energy by radiation would suffer no change of velocity the eby. . + The argument of this section may be made more definite. It is a result of observation that the more isolated a body is from the influence of other bodies, the more nearly is its velocity constant with reference to an assignable frame of reference. A30 ON FORCE [cH. 42. ON THE EQUILIBRIUM OF FORCES If a body moves with constant velocity in a straight line, the external forces, if any, which act on it, balance each other, or are in equilibrium. Thus if a carriage in a railway train moves with constant velocity in a straight line, the external 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 of the rails, the resistance of the air acting backwards, the weight of the carriage acting downwards, and the pressure of the rails acting up- wards—must exactly balance each other. Bodies at rest with respect to the surface of the earth are really in motion, and their motion is not constant nor in a straight line. Hence the forces which act on them are not exactly balanced. The apparent weight of bodies is estimated by the upward force required to keep them at rest relatively to the earth. The apparent weight is main problem of physical dynamics is to determine with in- creasing approximation a frame for which this principle holds, for all systems, with the greatest attainable precision. A frame of space and time thus determined has been called (after James Thomson) a frame of inertia. The statements in the text can be réconstructed with regard to a reference frame which is a frame of inertia, But given one frame of inertia, any other frame moving with any uniform translatory velocity with respect to it, is also a frame of inertia, Thus a first approximation for local purposes to a frame of inertia is one fixed with reference to the surrounding landscape; when the range of phenomena is widened, astronomers have to change to a frame containing the axis of the earth’s diurnal rotation, and involving a definite value for the length of the sidereal day: this again has to be corrected for the very slow movement of the earth’s axis that is revealed by the Precession of the Equinoxes: and so on. Such a frame of inertia represents in practical essentials the Newtonian absolute space and time: it is the simplest and most natural scheme of mapping an e tension into which dynamical phenomena can be fitted. If we assume that space is occupied by a uniform static aether through whose mediation influences are transmitted from one material body to another, the properties of that medium will afford unique specification of an absolute space and time having physical Properties as well as relations of extension. See Appendix I.1] EQUILIBRIUM 31 therefore rather less than the attraction of the earth, and makes a smaller angle with the axis of the earth, so that the combined effect of the supporting force and the earth’s attraction is a force perpendicular to the earth’s axis just sufficient to cause the body to keep to the circular path which it must describe if resting on the earth*. 43. DEFINITION oF Equat Times The first law of motion, by stating under what cir- cumstances the velocity of a moving body remains constant, supplies us with a method of defining equal intervals of time. Let the material system consist of two bodies which do not act on one another, and which are not acted on by any body external to the system. If one of these bodies is in motion with respect to the other, the relative velocity will, by the first law of motion, be constant and in a straight line. Hence intervals of time are equal when the relative displacements during those intervals are equalf. ‘This might at first sight appear to be nothing more than a definition of what we mean by equal intervals of time, an expression which, we have not hitherto defined at all. But if we suppose another moving system of two bodies to exist, each of which is not acted upon by any body whatever, this second system will give us an independent method of comparing intervals of time. The statement that equal intervals of time are those during which equal displacements occur in any such * See end of Appendix I. + This statement refers to the displacement of one body measured on a complete frame of reference attached to the other. It would not be true for two points moving with uniform velocities, if relative displacement meant merely change of distance between them. In fact their mutual distance undergoes acceleration ate rate varying inversely as the cube of that distance: to an observer not sensible of directions they would seem to repel each other with a force obeying that law of action,32 ON FORCE [cx. system, is therefore equivalent to the assertion that the comparison of intervals of time leads to the same result whether we use the first system of two bodies or the second system as our time-piece. We thus see the theoretical possibility of comparing” intervals of time however distant, though it is hardly necessary to remark that the method cannot be put in practice in the neighbourhood of the earth, or any other large mass of gravitating matter. 44. Tue Seconp Law or Motion Law I1.—Change of motion is proportional to the impressed force, and takes place in the direction in which the force is impressed. By motion Newton means what in modern scientific language is called Momentum, in which the quantity of matter moved is taken into account as well as the 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 intensity of the force. 45. DEFINITION oF Equat Masses AND OF Equa Forces An exposition of the law therefore involves a defini- tion of equal quantities of matter and of equal forces. We shall assume that it is possible to cause the force with which one body acts on another to be of the same intensity on different occasions. If we admit the permanency of the properties of bodies this can be done. We know that a thread of caoutchouc when stretched beyond a certain length exerts a tension which increases the more the thread is elongated. On account of this property the thread is said to be elastic. When the same thread is drawn out to the same length it will, if its properties remain constant, exert the same tension. Now let one end of the thread be fastened tomy] MASS 33 a body, M, not acted on by any other force than the tension of the thread, and let the other end be held in the hand and pulled in a constant direction with a force just sufficient to elongate the thread to a given length, The force acting on the body will then be of a given intensity, F. The body will acquire velocity, and at the end of a unit of time this velocity will have a certain value, V. If the same string be fastened to another body, N, and pulled as in the former case, so that the elongation is the same as before, the force acting on the body will be the same, and if the velocity communicated to N in a unit of time is also the same, namely V, then we say of the two bodies M and N that they consist of equal quantities of matter, or, in modern language, they are equal in mass. In this way, by the use of an elastic string, we might adjust the masses of a number of bodies so as to be each equal to a standard unit of mass, such as a pound avoirdupois, which is the standard of mass in Britain. 46. MEASUREMENT OF Mass The scientific value of the dynamical method of com- paring quantities of matter is best seen by comparing it with other methods in actual use. As long as we have to do with bodies of exactly the same kind, there is no difficulty in understanding how the quantity of matter is to be measured. If equal quantities of the substance produce equal effects of any kind, we may employ these effects.as measures of the quantity of the substance. For instance, if we are dealing with sulphuric acid of uniform strength, we may estimate the quantity of a given portion of it in several different ways. We may weigh it, we may pour it into a graduated vessel, and so measure its volume, or we may ascertain how much of a standard solution of potash it will neutralise. We might use the same methods to estimate a M. 334 ON FORCE [cu. quantity of nitric acid if we were dealing only with nitric acid; but if we wished to compare a quantity of nitric acid with a quantity of sulphuric acid we should obtain different results by weighing, by mea- suring, and by testing with an alkaline solution. Of these three methods, that of weighing depends on the attraction between the acid and the earth, that of measuring depends on the volume which the acid occupies, and that of titration depends on its power of combining with potash. . In abstract dynamics, however, matter is considered under no other aspect than as that which can have its motion changed by the application of force. Hence any two bodies are of equal mass if equal forces applied to these bodies produce, in equal times, equal changes of velocity. This is the only definition of equal masses which can be admitted in dynamics, and it is applicable to all material bodies, whatever they may be made of. It is an observed fact that bodies of equal mass, placed in the same position relative to the earth, are attracted equally towards the earth, whatever they are made of; but this is not a doctrine of abstract dynamics, founded on axiomatic principles, but a fact discovered by observation, and verified by the careful experiments of Newton*, on the times of oscillation of hollow wooden balls suspended by strings of the same length, and con- taining gold, silver, lead, glass, sand, common salt, wood, water, and wheat. The fact, however, that in the same geographical position the weights of equal masses are equal, is so well established, that no other mode of comparing masses than that of comparing their weights is ever made use of, either in commerce or in science, except in researches undertaken for the special purpose of __ * Principia, III. Prop. 6. Actual weight is a compound effect, in the main attraction, but diminished by reaction against eeutripetal acceleration of the mass due to the earth’s rotation. P. 143.mm] MEASUREMENT 35 determining in absolute measure the weight of unit of mass at different parts of the earth’s surface. The method employed in these researches is essentially the same as that of Newton, namely, by measuring the length of a pendulum which swings seconds. The unit of mass in this country is defined by the Act of Payliament (18 & 19 Vict. c. 72, July 30, 1855) to be a piece of platinum marked “P.S., 1844, 1 Ib.” deposited in the office of the Exchequer, which “shall be and be denominated the Imperial Standard Pound Avoirdupois.” "One seven-thousandth part of this pound is a grain. The French standard of mass is the “‘Kilogramme des Archives,” made of platinum by Borda. Professor Miller finds the kilogramme equal to 1543234874 grains. 47. NUMERICAL MEASUREMENT OF ForcE The unit of force is that force which, acting on the unit of mass for the unit of time, generates unit of velocity. Thus the weight of a gramme—that is to say, the force which causes it to fall—may be ascertained by letting it fall freely. At the end of one second its velocity will be about 981 centimetres per second if the experiment be in Britain. Hence the weight of a gramme is represented by the number 981, if the centimetre, the gramme, and the second are taken as the funda- mental units. It is sometimes convenient to compare forces with the weight of a body, and to speak of a force of so many pounds weight or grammes weight. This is called Gravitation measure. We must remember; how- ever, that though a pound or a gramme is the same all over the world, the weight of a pound or a gramme is greater in high latitudes than near the equator, and therefore a measurement of force in gravitation measure is of no scientific value unless it is stated in what part of the world the measurement was made. 3-2