Physics Help
Motion
Motion
In
physics, motion means a change in the position of a body
with respect to
time,
as measured by a particular
observer in a particular
frame of reference. Until the end of the 19th century,
Newton's laws of motion, which he posited as axioms or postulates in his
famous
Principia, were the basis of what has since become known as
classical physics. Calculations of trajectories and forces of bodies in
motion based on Newtonian or classical physics were very successful until
physicists began to be able to measure and observe very fast physical phenomena.
At very high speeds, the equations of classical physics were
not able to accurately calculate correct values. To address these problems, the
ideas of
Albert Einstein concerning the fundamental phenomena of motion were adopted
in lieu of Newton's. Whereas Newton's laws of motion assumed absolute values of
space and time in the equations of motion, Einstein's theories assumed relative
values for these concepts. Since Einstein's equations yielded accurate results
at high speeds and Newton's did not, the concept of
relativity was established in modern theoretical physics, and Einstein's
theory of relativity for bodies in motion has usurped Newton's laws of motion,
based on absolute space and time. However, as a practical matter, Newton's
equations are much easier to work with than Einstein's and therefore are more
often used in
applied physics and
engineering.
It is interesting to note, however, that because motion is
defined as the proportion of
space to
time,
these concepts are prior to motion, just as the concept of motion itself is
prior to
force. In other words, the properties of space and time determine the nature
of motion and the properties of motion, in turn, determine the nature of force.
Therefore, relative space and relative time result in relative motion, which
means that the unit values of space and time can change for observers moving at
high speeds relative to each other. These concepts have led physicists in
general to conclude that only relative motion can be measured and that absolute
motion is meaningless. See also
equation of motion,
Newton's laws of motion.
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