The Mechanical/Clockwork Universe

But first a bit more on Galileo:

Galileo's laws of Motion:

Aside from his numerous inventions, Galileo also laid down the first accurate laws of motion for masses. Galileo measured that all bodies accelerate at the same rate regardless of their size or mass.

Key among his investigations are:

• developed the concept of motion in terms of velocity (speed and direction) through the use of inclined planes.
• developed the idea of force, as a cause for motion.
• determined that the natural state of an object is rest or uniform motion, i.e. objects always have a velocity, sometimes that velocity has a magnitude of zero = rest.
• objects resist change in motion, which is called inertia.

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Descartes' mechanical philosophy was to completely revolutionize science, and thus have far-reaching religious implications. The organic world view of Aristotelianism had been constructed in terms of sympathies, correspondences, purposes and the notion of 'form' as distinct from 'matter'. This was to be replaced with a vastly contrasting mechanical view:

matter (is) made up of atoms, colors occur by the reflection of light waves of differing lengths, bodies obey the law of inertia, and the sun is the center of our solar system

One of the most dangerous implications of Descartes' mechanical universe is that it raises sensitive questions about God's relationship to nature

What is the dangerous implication here?

As mechanical philosophy gained support in Descartes' native France, so did moves towards a centralised Government control. Descartes' was quick to draw a parallel between the role of Ruler and Creator,

• God sets up mathematical laws in nature as a king sets up laws in his kingdom. To take the analogy further, just as the king must make sure his laws are obeyed, so God remains to preside over nature.

Historical Perspective Here

Descartes' belief in the existence of a rational human soul is based on the principle of the indivisibility of the human ego and underpinned by an unquestioning acceptance of the fundamental beliefs in one's own existence and the existence of God.

For Descartes the human body and the human mind were discrete entities. The human soul, unlike the mechanical world, was something that could not be broken down

One of the most challenging attacks on this aspect of Descartes' system was that if mind and matter are so radically different, how do they interact? Descartes' reaction to this criticism was that the pineal gland in humans formed a point of interaction between body and soul.

The inadequacy of this explanation was highlighted by the discovery that the pineal gland is also present in dogs, while Descartes had preserved the rational soul for only the human species.

the world is a Machine, but we must not forget that there is a Mechanic and that He designed the Machine for purposes which we might try to understand and that He is always present to supervise and maintain it Universality!

Summary of the Mechanical Philosophy:

1) world is a plenum of matter whirling about in large and small vortices; no void;

2) God originally created the world by putting matter into motion according to certain laws; time took care of the rest; everything is matter in motion.

3) Only two real or primary substances in the universe

a) matter (res extensa)--defined as extension and is infinitely divisible.

b) mind (res cogitans)-- non-extended and immaterial; endowed in each of us by God, is what makes us individuals, (much like a rational soul);

4) Cartesian dualism mind and matter completely separated Mind is rational, matter is inert, lifeless, passive spirituality of the Earth completely removed now!

5) Nature is only this lifeless matter in motion; What we call "life" is merely an epiphenomenon of this matter in motion; it is not intrinsic to nature. We can call things "living," but what we really mean is that their parts are so disposed as to behave automatically in accord to physical laws of necessity; e.g. The Clockwork Universe

6) Humans distinct from Nature: Only man is endowed with mind, could act freely, but only as a mind in an automaton; animals do not have minds or reason; they are nothing more than elaborately contrived machines or automatons The Hierarchical World View




Newton Physics Emerges

BACKGROUND & TIMES 1. By the time Isaac Newton entered college, the scientific revolution of the 17th century was well underway. 2. Men like Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and Descartes had all helped develop a new view of nature. and what is a brief summary of this new view? 3. When Newton went to Cambridge, everyone was still studying the old nature. 4. Newton studied it too—but in his notebook he had written: "Amicus Plato; amicus Aristoteles; magus amica veritas." "Plato is my friend, Aristotle is my friend, but my best friend is truth."

THE PERSON 1. Isaac Newton was born on Christmas Day, 1642, the same year Galileo died. 2. He did much of his greatest work during a two year period from 1665 to 1667 when he was at the village of Woolsworth to escape the Great Plague which was ravishing London. 3. His life was troubled by angry conflicts and bitter feuds with colleagues and friends. 4. Twice these feuds led to breakdowns; other times they led to bursts of brilliant new achievements. 5. He died in 1727, at the age of 85. Years later it was discovered that much of his erratic behavior may have been caused by mercury poisoning. Recent samples of his hair showed he had forty times the level of mercury considered normal.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS 1. Newton discovered the origin of color. 2. He discovered the nature of gravity. 3. He invented calculus. 4. He invented the first reflecting telescope. 5. He wrote and published the book Mathematica Principia, which provided a detailed explanation of the laws of gravity and motion, particularly as they applied to astronomy. 6. He was knighted as Sir Isaac Newton and became president of the Royal Society, a post he held until his death.

UNIQUE INFLUENCE

1. He was one of the most creative geniuses the world has ever seen and to many people the greatest scientist who ever lived. 2. While Galileo's discoveries brought humankind to the brink of a new age, Newton took it the rest of the way. 3. He unified the work of Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler into one scientific theory that has stood the test of time. 4. Principia Mathematica is still considered by many to be the greatest scientific book ever written. It is the fundamental work for all of modern science. 5. Newton was the integrator, the unifier, the organizer, of all the scientific knowledge available at the time. He established a solid platform on which all modern science could be built.

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Newton:

Newton's Explanation of Kepler's Laws

Newton expanded on the work of Galileo to better define the relationship between energy and motion. In particular, he developed the following concepts:

• change in velocity = acceleration caused by force
• inertia = resistance to change in velocity and is proportional to the mass of the object
• momentum = quantity of motion energy and is equal to mass times velocity
• law of conservation of momentum = total momentum (mass x velocity) of an interaction is conserved is the same before and after
Momentum Conservation

A corollary to Newton's ideas was the so called Clockwork Universe model. A concept that states that the total momentum of the Universe is conserved, interactions redistribute the momentum, but the total never changes. In this model, God only starts the clock (initial cause), then it runs by itself for the rest of time.

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Newton's laws of motion:

• 1st law: a body remains at rest or moves in a straight line of constant velocity as long as no external forces acts on it

• 2nd law: a body acted on by a force will accelerate such that force equals mass times acceleration (F=ma)

• 3rd law: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction
Well fine, if gravity is an attractive force, then how come the moon doesn't come crashing into the earth, or the earth into the sun. What causes an orbit to be stable?

An orbit is the balance between inertial and gravitational forces. That is, the earth is continually falling toward the sun, but inertia also wants the earth to keep moving in a straight line. When these two forces are in balance a stable orbit results:





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Newton's development of the underlying cause of planetary motion, gravity, completed the solar system model begun by the Babylonians and early Greeks. The mathematical formulation of Newton's dynamic model of the solar system became the science of celestial mechanics, the greatest of the deterministic sciences.