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Newton's early computational method for dynamics

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Abstract

On December 13, 1679Newton sent a letter toHooke on orbital motion for central forces, which contains a drawing showing an orbit for a constant value of the force. This letter is of great importance, because it reveals the state ofNewton's development of dynamics at that time. Since the first publication of this letter in 1929,Newton's method of constructing this orbit has remained a puzzle particularly because he apparently made a considerable error in the angle between successive apogees of this orbit. In fact, it is shown here thatNewton's implicitcomputation of this orbit is quite good, and that the error in the angle is due mainly toan error of drawing in joining two segments of the oribit, whichNewton related by areflection symmetry. In addition, in the letterNewton describes quite correctly the geometrical nature of orbits under the action of central forces (accelerations) which increase with decreasing distance from the center. An iterative computational method to evaluate orbits for central forces is described, which is based onNewton's mathematical development of the concept of curvature started in 1664. This method accounts very well for the orbit obtained byNewton for a constant central force, and it gives convergent results even for forces which diverge at the center, which are discussed correctly inNewton's letterwithout usingKepler's law of areas.Newton found the relation of this law to general central forces only after his correspondence withHooke. The curvature method leads to an equation of motion whichNewton could have solvedanalytically to find that motion on a conic section with a radial force directed towards a focus implies an inverse square force, and that motion on a logarithmic spiral implies an inverse cube force.

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References

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  12. In Corollary II of Proposition XLIV, Theorem XIV, Book I of thePrincipia,Newton shows that the central forcef acting on a body moving on the “revolving ellipse”\(Y_{CH_4 }\) (39) is given by\(f = \frac{{F^2 }}{{r^2 }} + \frac{{L\left( {G^2 - F^2 } \right)}}{{r^3 }}\) (40) wherev=F/G. In this case the angle between perigee and apogee is 180°/v. This result gives a powerful approach to obtain approximate orbits for general attractive central forces when the orbit is nearly circular,i.e. ε≪1. For example, the forcef′=c/rn can be approximated by Eq. (40) by settingf′=f anddf′/dr=df/dr arr=L. This givesn=3−υ 2, a result whichNewton derives in Proposition XLV, Problem XXXI. For a constant forcen=0,v=√3, and the angle between perigee and apogee in this case is 180°/√3≈103°55′23″. For a force proportional to the inverse of the distancen=1,v=√2, and the corresponding angle is 180°/√2≈127°16′45″. The approximate numerical values for the angles are those given byNewton.

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  23. In Corollary III of Proposition VI, Theorem V, book I of the third edition of thePrincipia,Newton introduced a second measure for force (acceleration), using explicitly the conservation of angular momentuml, stating that “...the centripetal force will be inversely as the solidSY2PV...”. In our notation.SY=rsin(α)=l/v is the component of the position vector along the curvature vector, andPV=2ρsin(α) is the component of the curvature vector along the position vector,i.e. the chord of the osculating circle which passes through the center of force. Hence,Newton's second measure of force corresponds (apart from a factor 2l 2) toa=l 2/(r2ρsin3(α)), which is the same as Eq. (22).

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  29. I. B. Cohen,Introduction to Newton's Principia (Cambridge 1971) pg. 295. This quotation is taken from a draft of a letter toDes Maizeaux, written in 1720 or somewhat earlier. Other statements ofNewton make it plausible thatNewton had antedated his discovery, possibly because of his dispute withLeibniz on the development of the calculus. I believe it is significant that in this letterNewton does not refer toKepler's law of areas, which he demonstrated only after his correspondence withHooke. Historians of science have dismissedNewton's claim that his first proofs were analytic, based on his fluxions (calculus), primarily because there is no direct documentary evidence, but also because they have not been able to figure out what technique he might have used. However, the analysis presented here, based on the mathematical and physical ideas whichNewton had developed by 1671, makeNewton's claim entirely plausible.

  30. Reference [29] p. 291. HereNewton states that ... At length in the winter between the years 1676 & 1677 I found the Proposition that by a centrifugal force reciprocally as the square of the distance a Planet must revolve in an Ellipsis about the center of the force placed in the lower umbilicus of the Ellipsis & with a radius drawn to that center describe areas proportional to the times. However, the dates 1676 & 1677 contradictNewton's statement in several letters that he had discoveredKepler's law at the time of his correspondence withHooke, which was two years later.

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  33. Thedirect problem in dynamics, given an orbit in polar coordinates where the origin is the center of force to obtain the acceleration (force)a towards this origin, can be readily solved by quadratures using the curvature method. One finds that\(\frac{a}{{a_0 }} = \frac{{w_0 }}{w}\exp \left[ { - 2\int\limits_{r_0 }^r {{{dr'} \mathord{\left/{\vphantom {{dr'} {w\left( {r'} \right)}}} \right.\kern-\nulldelimiterspace} {w\left( {r'} \right)}}} } \right]\) (42) wherew = ρsin(α), andw 0,a 0 andr 0 are the initial values of the corresponding variables. For example, for a logarithmic spiral,w=r, Eq. (19), one obtainsa/a 0=(r 0/r)3, while for a conic section,w=r(2−r/A), Eq. (16),a/a 0 = (r 0/r)2.

  34. Reference [13] pp. 370–378.

  35. For general bound motion,E<0, in an inverse cube forcec r3, the general solution isr=r0/cosh(bθ), withE = −cb2/2(1+b2)r 20 , and angular momentuml=c 1/2/(1+b 2)1/2.

  36. In the original tractDe Motu Newton added a comment in aScholium to Problem 1,Whiteside, (1684–1691: VI, p. 45), stating that ‘In a spiral which cuts all its radii at a given angle [logarithmic spiral], the centripetal force tending to the spiral' a pole is reciprocal in the tripled ratio of the distance’. I think that it is significant that at that timeNewton did not given any proof or discuss the method by which he had obtained this result. A geometrical proof based on an elegant self-similarity argument appeared later in the revisedDe Motu as Proposition VIII, Problem III, with thisScholium deleted,Whiteside (1684–1691: VI, p. 137), and in the same form in Proposition IX, Problem VI, book I of thePrincipia.

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  39. The problem of determining the orbital parameter from initial conditions was included byNewton in an extension to Corollary I of Proposition XIII Problem VIII in section III, book I, added in the second edition of thePrincipia. However,Newton does not explain how to obtain these parameters which depends on knowing his unpublished mathematical results of 1671 on curvature. For the focus, the point of contact, and the position of the tangent being given, a conic section may be described, which at that point shall have a given curvature. The “position of the tangent” is given by sin (α) for a conic section in Eq. (20), and the curvature is obtained from this equation and Eq. (16)\(\rho = \frac{1}{{\sqrt L }}\left[ {2r - \frac{{r^2 }}{A}} \right]^{{3 \mathord{\left/{\vphantom {3 2}} \right.\kern-\nulldelimiterspace} 2}}\) (43) These equations can be solved to determine the parametersL andA in terms of given or initial values r0, sin(α0) and ρ0.L = ρ0sin3(α0) (44) and\(A = \frac{{r_0^2 }}{{2r_0 - \rho _0 \sin \left( {\alpha _0 } \right)}}\) (45)Newton then continues But the curvature is given from the centripetal force and velocity of the body being given; This statement refers to the initial value of ρ0 given by the fundamental dynamical curvature equation, Eq. (12), in the form\(\rho _0 = \frac{{v_0^2 }}{{a_0 \sin \left( {\alpha _0 } \right)}}\) (46) where the magnitudea 0 of the initial acceleration is taken to be equal to the initial value of the “centripetal force”. It is clearNewton means that not only the magnitude, but also the direction of the initial velocity at the position vector r0 must be given, since only then can one evaluate sin(α0) from\(\cos \left( {\alpha _0 } \right) = \frac{{\vec r_0 \cdot \vec v_0 }}{{r_0 v_0 }}\) (47) Hence, substituting the value ofρ 0 obtained from the basic equation of the curvature method, Eq. (46), in Eq. (44) and Eq. (45) one can obtain, explicitly, the orbital parametersL andA in terms of the initial values ofr 0,v 0, sin(α0) anda 0,\(\frac{1}{A} = \frac{2}{{r_0 }} - \frac{{v_0^2 }}{c} = \frac{{ - 2E}}{c}\) (48) and\(L = \frac{{v_0^2 r_0^2 \sin ^2 \left( {\alpha _0 } \right)}}{c} = \frac{{l^2 }}{c}\) (49) The geometrical construction in Proposition 1 justifies the uniqueness theorem at the end of this Corollary: and two [different] orbits, touching one the other, cannot be described by the same centripetal force and the same velocity. This completesNewton's proof that conic sections are the only possible orbits for an inverse square force, as he announced at the start of this Corollary. The uniqueness theorem is also demonstrated by Proposition XLI, book I of thePrincipia. However, the solution of the orbital integral in Proposition XLI for 1/r2 was not mentioned byNewton in any of his three editions of thePrincipia. A direct solution was first published byJohann Bernoulli in theMemoire de l'Academie Royale des Sciences 1710, pp 519–533. Recently there has been a lively debate in the literature, initiated byR. Weinstock, concerning the question whetherNewton actually proved in thePrincipia that given a central force 1/r 2, the only orbits are conic sections.R. Weinstock,Dismantling a Centuries-Old Myth: Newton's Principia and Inverse Square Orbits, American Journal of Physics50, 610–617 (1982). For further references, and a careful study of this question seeG. H. Pourciau,On Newton's Proof that Inverse-Square Orbits Must be Conies, Annals of Science48, 159–172 (1991);Newton's Solution of the One-Body Problem, Archive for History of Exact Sciences, vol.44, 125–146 (1992).M. Nauenberg,The Mathematical Principles Underlying the Principia Revisited (to be published in the College Mathematics Journal).

  40. Reference [19] pp. 246–256.

  41. R. S.Westfall,A note on Newton's demonstrations of motion in ellipses, Archives Internationales d'Histories des Sciences,22, 52–60 (1969). For a recent discussion see,J. B. Brackenridge,The Locke/Newton Manuscripts revisited: conjugates, curvatures, & conjectures (to be published in Archives Internationales d'Histories des Sciences).

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  50. To avoid this lack of convergence,Newton could have applied an adaptive algorithm to iterations in the impulse method. For example, the time stepδt could be taken proportional to the radial distance from the center.

  51. The impulse equations correspond to a canonical or simplectic mapping of the coordinates\(\vec r\) and\(\vec v\). This is the consequence of the fact that these equations are the exact solutions of a Hamiltonian with impulsive forces. For a discussion of simplectic transformations in Hamiltonian mechanics, see, for example,V. I. Arnol'd,Mathematical Methods of Classical Mechanics (Springer-Verlag, 1984).

  52. In Theorem 4 ofDe Motu Newton proves that Supposing that the centripetal force be reciprocally proportional to the square of the distance from the centre, the squares of the periodic times in ellipses are as the cubes of their transverse axes.

  53. The first treatise on calculus was published by 1'Hospital, based on lectures by his tutor,Johann Bernoulli, about a decade after the publication of thePrincipia, entitledAnalyse des Infiniment Petits, Pour l'intelligence des lignes courbes (A Paris, de l'Imprimerie Royale, MD-CXCVI). An unpublished translation of this book into English (which I found amongHooke's manuscripts in the Royal Society) was provided byCharles Hayes who subsequently incorporated it into a book entitledA treatise on fluxions (London 1704) (D. T. Whiteside, private communication). An exact translation of 1'Hospital's book was published in 1730 byE. Stone under the titleThe Method of Fluxions both Direct and Inverse (The Former being a translation from ..., and the later supply'd by the Translator).Newton's original treatise of 1671 was first published byJohn Colson in English in 1736, in a book entitledThe Method of Fluxions and Infinite Series with its Application to the Geometry of Curve-Lines, By the Inventor Sir Isaac Newton, Kt, Late president of the Royal Society. Translated from theAuthor's Latin Original not yet made publick. London, Printed by Henry Woodfall; M.DCC.XXXVI.

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    Michael Nauenberg

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Nauenberg, M. Newton's early computational method for dynamics. Arch. Hist. Exact Sci. 46, 221–252 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01686278

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