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Observation Relationist Inertial Motion Velocity Non-Inertial Motion Forces Water in A Spinning Bucket Bucket

Newton argued that space must be absolute based on his observations of non-inertial motion generating forces. He used the example of a spinning bucket of water to demonstrate this, showing that the concave surface of the water after spinning must be due to non-inertial motion relative to space itself, not just relative to the bucket. For centuries Newton's bucket argument was considered decisive in proving space must exist independently of matter.

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39 views2 pages

Observation Relationist Inertial Motion Velocity Non-Inertial Motion Forces Water in A Spinning Bucket Bucket

Newton argued that space must be absolute based on his observations of non-inertial motion generating forces. He used the example of a spinning bucket of water to demonstrate this, showing that the concave surface of the water after spinning must be due to non-inertial motion relative to space itself, not just relative to the bucket. For centuries Newton's bucket argument was considered decisive in proving space must exist independently of matter.

Uploaded by

Rashid Ali
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Newton took space to be more than relations between material objects and based his position

on observation and experimentation. For a relationist there can be no real difference between inertial


motion, in which the object travels with constant velocity, and non-inertial motion, in which the
velocity changes with time, since all spatial measurements are relative to other objects and their
motions. But Newton argued that since non-inertial motion generates forces, it must be absolute.
[14]
 He used the example of water in a spinning bucket to demonstrate his argument. Water in
a bucket is hung from a rope and set to spin, starts with a flat surface. After a while, as the bucket
continues to spin, the surface of the water becomes concave. If the bucket's spinning is stopped
then the surface of the water remains concave as it continues to spin. The concave surface is
therefore apparently not the result of relative motion between the bucket and the water. [15] Instead,
Newton argued, it must be a result of non-inertial motion relative to space itself. For several
centuries the bucket argument was considered decisive in showing that space must exist
independently of matter.

Kant

Immanuel Kant

In the eighteenth century the German philosopher Immanuel Kant developed a theory


of knowledge in which knowledge about space can be both a priori and synthetic.[16] According to
Kant, knowledge about space is synthetic, in that statements about space are not simply true by
virtue of the meaning of the words in the statement. In his work, Kant rejected the view that space
must be either a substance or relation. Instead he came to the conclusion that space and time are
not discovered by humans to be objective features of the world, but imposed by us as part of a
framework for organizing experience.[17]

Non-Euclidean geometry
Main article: Non-Euclidean geometry
Spherical geometry is similar to elliptical geometry. On a sphere (the surface of a ball) there are no parallel
lines.

Euclid's Elements contained five postulates that form the basis for Euclidean geometry. One of
these, the parallel postulate, has been the subject of debate among mathematicians for many
centuries. It states that on any plane on which there is a straight line L1 and a point P not on L1, there
is exactly one straight line L2 on the plane that passes through the point P and is parallel to the
straight line L1. Until the 19th century, few doubted the truth of the postulate; instead debate
centered over whether it was necessary as an axiom, or whether it was a theory that could be
derived from the other axioms.[18] Around 1830 though, the Hungarian János Bolyai and the
Russian Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky separately published treatises on a type of geometry that
does not include the parallel postulate, called hyperbolic geometry. In this geometry,
an infinite number of parallel lines pass through the point P. Consequently, the sum of angles in a
triangle is less than 180° and the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter is greater than pi. In
the 1850s, Bernhard Riemann developed an equivalent theory of elliptical geometry, in which no
parallel lines pass through P. In this geometry, triangles have more than 180° and circles have a
ratio of circumference-to-diameter that is less than pi.

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