University of Maryland - Fall 2004
HIST 401
Study Questions for Topic 6
Newton

Questions numbered in multiples of 5 are essay questions, others are short-answer.

*indicates questions that will not be on final exam but may be used for extra credit.

None of these questions may be answered simply "yes" or "no."

Reminder about Extra Credit Assignments: You may submit additional assignments at any class (last class is December 9 ) to improve your course grade and as preparation for the final exam.  Select any questions from the lists for topics 1-6, if they have not been used already in the mid-term exam.  For convenience I suggest each extra-credit assignment include one essay question (multiple of 5 on list) and 6 short-answer questions (so it would be worth 5 extra points if all answers are correct).  Credit is cumulative (no penalty for wrong answers) up to a maximum of 20 points total for all assignments, required & extra credit.  Assignments turned in by December 2 will be graded and returned by December 9 .

1. How did Newton rebel against Descartes' theory of atoms in chemistry?
2. Why did Leibniz reject Newton's concept of gravity?
3. How did the meaning of the term 'natural philosophy' change between the time of Aristotle and the time of Newton?
4. What is the 'big picture' that Cunningham & Williams reject, and what is the new 'big picture' they want to replace it with?
5. Discuss the history of the Mechanical Philosophy in the 17th century. How did it affect Newton's views and the reception of his theory of gravity? How did 'Newtonianism' differ from the Mechanical Philosophy?
6. Explain and evaluate Dear's statement, 'it was the mercantile states of Western Europe that played the greatest role in revolutionizing the sciences' during the period 1500-1700.
7. Explain Newton's 'crucial experiment' on light and colors. What did he assert that the experiment proved? Did it?
8. What are two differences between geometry and mechanics according to Newton?
9. *How is Newton's definition of 'relative time' different from Einstein's?
10. Discuss the influence of the Royal Society of London and the Academie des Sciences (Paris) (including the Observatory at Paris) on the progress of science before 1800. Would the public and private resources devoted to these societies have been better spent by supporting many individual scientists with small grants?
11. How are Newton's definitions of relative place and relative motion different from those of Descartes? What is one of his objections to Descartes; definition?
12. *Newton writes: 'the natural days are truly unequal, though they are commonly considered as equal, and used for a measure of time.' (A) according to modern science, what is the magnitude and direction (increase or decrease?) of this variation in the length of day from one century to the next? (B) Explain the major cause of the variation. ( C) How could the variation have been measured in the 17th century? Give detailed references for the sources of your information.
13. Describe Newton's rotating bucket experiment. What was it supposed to prove?
14. Newton describes an experiment with two globes, connected by a cord and revolving around their common center of gravity. By measuring the tension of the cord and equating it to the centrifugal force ('endeavour to recede from the axis of their motion') we can find the speed of the circular motion. However, this does not tell us the direction of that motion with respect to absolute space. (A) What is the formula used to find the speed of circular motion in this case? (B) How does Newton suggest we could also find the direction of circular motion?
15. What is God's role in the world according to Newton? What was Leibniz's criticism of Newton's view?
16. State one of Newton's 4 'Rules of Reasoning' and give an example of a violation of that Rule.
17. What two quantitative facts about the motions of planets, taken together, disprove the [Cartesian] hypothesis of vortices, according to Newton?
18. Why did philosophers object to Descartes' dualism? How did Leibniz propose to solve the problem?
19. *Newton writes in Opticks, Query 31: 'from the various Composition of two Motions, 'tis very certain that there is not always the same Quantity of Motion in the World. For if two Globes joined by a slender Rod, revolve about their common Center of Gravity with an uniform Motion, while that Center moves on uniformly in a right [straight] Line drawn in the Plane of their circular motion; the Sum of the Motions of the two Globes, as often as the Globes are in the right Line described by their common Center of Gravity, will be bigger than the Sum of their Motions, when they are in a Line perpendicular to that right Line. By this Instance it appears that Motion may be got or lost.' Prove this statement, using Descartes' definition of Motion and assuming that Motions in perpendicular directions are compounded (like vectors) using the Pythagorean theorem.
20. Compare Galileo and Newton with respect to their personality, interactions with others, all other aspects outside their scientific research.
21. What does Newton mean by 'Active Principles' and why does he need to introduce them in his theory of the world?
22. What was Newton's opinion of Descartes' 'pression' theory of light when he was a student at Cambridge?
23. How is Diamond's book relevant to the history of science?
24. Dear writes: 'The modern world is much like the world envisaged by Francis Bacon.' Explain and evaluate this statement.
25. Discuss the relation between Newton and Descartes.
26. (No question)
27. Explain the meaning of Leibniz's criticism (as summarized by Dear): 'Newton might want to hide behind a claim of causal nescience ... but [he] presupposed all manner of highly questionable positions.'
28. Is the story of Newton and the apple accurate? Why does Cohen think we should be skeptical of the story even if it comes from a good source?
29. What was the most important conclusion in Newton's 1672 paper on light and colors? Why was he so offended when Hooke and Pardies called his theory a 'hypothesis'?
30. Discuss the 'social history' of the calculus in the 17th century (it is not necessary to give a technical explanation of it). Who invented the calculus? What difference does it make? How might the history of mathematics and science have been different if the modern custom for awarding 'priority' had been followed in the 17th century?
31. Why was Newton interested in alchemy?
32. How did Isaac Barrow promote Newton's career?
33. How did Newton explain (qualitatively) the precession of the equinoxes?
34. What was Robert Hooke's contribution to the theory of planetary motion, aside from postulating an inverse square law for gravity? Do you think he (rather than Newton) deserves the credit for this contribution?
35. Evaluate Gleick's biography, Isaac Newton, assuming you are the typical reader for whom it is intended. Include any suggestions for improvement you would give the author.
36. According to Newton, a body dropped from the top of a high tower on a rotating earth would land to the east of the foot of the tower, rather than to the west as the advocates of a motionless earth claimed. Why?
37. *What is the formula that gives the gravitational force F acting on an apple of mass ma, at a height h above the Earth's surface, if the Earth is a homogeneous sphere with mass M, and the gravitational constant is G? Why is it not F = GmaM/h²? (Hint: the formula given by Cohen is not quite correct if h is finite.)
38. When Halley asked Newton in 1684 'what he thought the Curve would be that would be described by the Planets supposing the force of attraction towards the Sun to be the square of the distance from it,' what was Newton's immediate answer? Why was this answer not quite correct? How did this episode change Western civilization?
39. Explain Cohen's statement 'it was Newton who finally shattered the bonds of 'circularity' which still held Galileo in thrall.'
40. Was there a 'Scientific Revolution' in the period 1500-1700? If so, what happened and why? If not, explain why the events in science during that period should not be called a 'revolution.'
41. What is the proper definition of the term 'natural philosophy' according to Cunningham & Williams, and why should we use it instead of "science" when discussing the work of Newton and others in the 17th century?
42. Why, according to Cunningham & Williams, did the transition from 'natural philosophy' to 'science' take place between 1760 and 1848? Give 4 of their reasons.
43. How does Kuhn's statement that revolutionary change requires change in metaphor apply to the transition from Aristotle to Newton? You will have to give your own example, from other readings, for the latter.
44. 'Newton was not a British scientist.' Discuss
45. Discuss one of the following 'big questions' historically, using what you have learned in this course.
    
    (A) Is the universe finite or infinite?
    (B) Is the earth at the center of the universe?
    (C) Why is winter longer than summer?
    (D) Why does a stone fall to the ground when you drop it?
    (E) What is light?
    (F) Do we see by sending something out from our eyes, or by receiving something coming into our eyes?
    (G) How is change possible?
    (H) Why did the societies that started in Europe come to dominate the others? (E.g., Why did the Europeans colonize the American continent, not the reverse?)
    (I) Why did the Scientific Revolution occur in Europe in the 17th century and not in some other time and place?
    (J) Is there a inherent conflict between science and religion?
    
46. What is 'the whole burden of philosophy' (i.e. the task of science) according to Newton? How does he illustrate this with an example?
47. How did Roemer 'discover the speed of light' in the standard textbook account? What other discovery, made about the same time, was needed to allow an actual numerical estimate of the speed? Who was the first to publish a good estimate?
48. Explain the difference between gravitational and inertial mass. How did Newton show that they have the same value?
49. *What is the relation of the length L to the period T of the pendulum and the gravitational acceleration g and how could it be used to determined the variation of g at different places on the Earth's surface? What are the two ways in which the Earth's rotation affects that variation, e.g. between the equator and the poles, according to Newtonian theory?
50. Discuss the history of theories of gravity through 1727.
51. Hooke claimed that he should have been credited by Newton with discovering the law of gravity and its application to planetary motion. What is the basis for that claim? Why did it fail to persuade Newton and his followers?
52. In the following quotation, Newton implies two assertions about God's role in the universe. State them and explain how they relate to the clockwork universe philosophy.
    "For while Comets move in very excentrick Orbs in all manner of Positions, blind Fate could never make all the Planets move one and the same way in Orbs concentrick, some considerable Irregularities excepted, which may have arisen from the mutual Actions of Comets and Planets upon one another, and which will be apt to increase, till this system wants a Reformation. Such a wonderful Uniformity in the Planetary System must be allowed the Effect of Choice."
53. *How and when did French scientists establish the validity of Newton's theory of the Earth's shape?
54. Who said 'hypotheses non fingo' and what does it mean?
55. Discuss Newton's views on scientific method and the methods by which he obtained and justified his results.
56. Compare the modern form of Newton's 2nd Law of Motion with the form preferred by Newton himself. What is the connection between them?
57. (No question)
58. (No question)
59. (No question)
60. *Discuss Newton's test of the hypothesis that the same force that keeps the Moon in its orbit causes an apple to fall to the ground, using modern data. Calculate the numerical value of the probable error.
61. (No question)
62. (No question)
63. (No question)
64. (No question)
65. Discuss the statement that the greatest achievement of Newtonian science is to give the first full explanation of the universe on mechanical principles, including known facts about the Earth and solar System, rather than a set of successful predictions of the previously unknown motions of comets, satellites and space vehicles and of the deviation of the Earth from a spherical shape.
66. (No question)
67. (No question)
68. (No question)
69. (No question)
70. According to the heliocentric theory, there should be a stellar parallax effect. Explain (a) what this means, and (b) why the heliocentric theory was widely accepted in most of Europe by the mid-17th century despite the fact that stellar parallax was not discovered until nearly 200 years later.

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