One Mind Equals Many Discoveries
Science and mathematics have had an enormous impact on how modern society is today. Isaac Newton’s discoveries in optics, calculus, motion, and gravity impact modern society everyday. Throughout his 85 years of life, Newton made discoveries that explain many of the natural phenomena seen in the world.
Isaac Newton was born December 25, 1642 in Lincolnshire, England. He was born into a family of farmers after his father had already passed away. After his mother remarried, he was sent to live with his grandparents in Woolsthorpe, England, which is where he grew up. He went to grammar school in Grantham which was just north of Woolsthorpe. He showed considerable talent in science because he constantly was constructing mechanical toys and models. When he returned home after primary school, the plan that was set forth for him was to continue the family business in farming. His mother knew that he had special talents, so with the help of an uncle, Newton was admitted to Trinity College in Cambridge University in 1657. At Trinity College, Newton’s intellect was truly able to flourish (“Isaac Newton: A Versatile Intellect” and “Isaac Newton”).
While at Trinity College, Newton was able to investigate many different areas of study in science and mathematics. Specifically he was able to begin his investigations into the promising science of optics (“Isaac Newton: A Versatile Intellect”). This is one of his first areas of study that actually challenged his mind. Before Newton, the widely held belief about light was from Aristotle. Aristotle thought that white light was primary and the other colors were secondary. Newton disagreed. He began work on his optics experiments in 1664. He executed a number of experiments with light and prisms. His experiments showed that white light is a combination of all different colors (Hatch). His foremost experiment in optics was in a dark room with one small slit in the wall to allow a beam of light to pass through. The beam then passed through a prism that refracted the white light into the many colors of the spectrum. Newton then selected one color of the spectrum and passed its beam through a second prism. The beam passed through the prism without any refraction (Clark 130). This showed Newton that white light was composed of many colors, but the colors of its spectrum were primary or they were not composed of other colors (Hatch). This basic idea can be used to identify matter that produces light. When light is passed through a slit into a diffraction grating, it produces a spectrum that is easier to analyze then the spectrums created by Newton’s prisms. This is a useful laboratory tool used today to identify some matter like neon, argon, and radon (Clark 130). One of the most important parts of modern science is identifying what composes the matter that is being studied, so essentially Newton discovered a laboratory tool that may not have been useful in his time, but would be very useful in the modern world. Newton’s experiment also explains why rainbows occur. Water droplets can have a similar effect on light as a prism or diffraction grating. As the light from the sun passes through the rain water droplets, it is refracted around inside of the water droplet to produce a rainbow. So the more light there is, the more refraction and in many cases brighter and more rainbows. This phenomenon could be seen in a thin layer of oil on water as well. Oil, like water, has a refraction effect on light (Clark 131). It seems that Newton’s work early on had a way of explaining the simplest things in a way that would actually start to be useful centuries after the discovery had been made. This work may not have been as much of an impact, but it was on of Newton’s first large works, so it was necessary to investigate.
His work in optics may not have had as much of an impact, but his next project is on of the most influential of his discoveries. These days calculus is seen by most as last night’s homework. It seems tedious, ridiculous, and useless to many teenagers today. However, back in Isaac Newton’s time, it was not even completely conceived. Almost all of mathematics was based on Euclid’s Elements at the time (Hatch). There was a new form of mathematics coming forth however. Many scientists were trying to find a way to use rates of change including Ren Descartes and Galileo Galilee. These scientists guessed at what was the method to be used (Olson). Newton created differential calculus by combining all of the insight of these earlier scientists. Calculus is a method of mathematics that is used to calculate rates of change (“Isaac Newton”). Newton needed calculus to help him describe planetary motion. Without it he may not have been able to create his three laws of motion and his theory of gravity. Today society uses calculus in many different ways. For example calculus is used to describe the height of a falling object over time or it is used to describe the amount of money one has in the bank after a certain amount of time at a certain rate. It can also be used to describe the path of an object flying through the air. These are all areas that experts need to know how objects are working in order to make accurate decisions on how to react to them. If it is known for example how fast a car is moving at a certain time, then it is possible to know how far the car will go at that speed. Calculus can be applied to many different areas of human existence. Calculus may seem like some subject in high school that is ridiculously complicated and difficult; however, it has a huge purpose in the way that modern society is run today. All of the calculus that is used today would not have been possible had it not been for the brilliant intellect of Isaac Newton.
Gravity is a phenomenon that is widely accepted by the majority of people. It is known that it keeps most matter on Earth unless it is rocketed out of the gravitational pull. However there was a time when the theory of gravity was not in existence. That was before the work of Newton. His theory of gravity helped to explain and give more evidence to the idea that the Earth is not the center of the universe. This was the heliocentric view of the universe (Olson). The popular story is that an apple fell on his head and he realized what made the apple fall towards the ground. This event may have occurred; however, looking at Newton’s notebooks and lab notes, it took him about 20 years to fully comprehend what gravity was (Hatch). Newton was able to work out that the gravitational force of attraction between two objects is proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. If an object is moving fast enough, then it can escape Earth’s gravitational pull. With that knowledge in hand, scientists today have been able to find out that in order to escape Earth’s gravitational pull, one must be moving at a speed of at least 11.2km per second. This speed is called the escape speed. When an object reaches that speed needed to escape Earth’s gravitational pull, then the object becomes weightless. Depending on an object’s distance from the center of Earth, one has to move faster the closer one is to the center of Earth in order to stay out of the gravitational pull (Clark 65). These are all parts of the theory of gravity that Isaac Newton created. Once again one can see that without Newton, the understanding of the world from the human view point would be very different.
Although Newton discovered and created the theory of gravity, he would not have come close to the idea had he not first created the three laws of motion. These three laws of motion were the basis for all modern physics until Albert Einstein revolutionized the field again in the 20th century (“Isaac Newton”). Before Newton created the three laws of motion, the general view of objects in motion was that the speed of an object was proportional to the force acting on it. These laws showed that the acceleration, not speed, was directly proportional to the force acting on it (Olson). The best examples of Newton’s laws can be seen in space where one does not have to factor in wind resistance. Newton’s first law is the momentum of an object stays constant until a force acts upon it. So after a rocket in space turns off its motor, it keeps the same speed until something else acts on it. This also explains why objects on Earth slow down over time because the object has to push against air which is a second force. Newton’s second law is when a single force acts on an object; it makes it accelerate in the direction the force. In the rocket’s case, the rocket’s acceleration is inversely proportional to the force from the motor and inversely proportional to its mass. That means that because the motor is pushing in a certain direction, then the rocket goes that direction to the point that the motor can affect it. Newton’s third law is whenever a force acts on one body, an equal and opposite force acts on some other body. This equal and opposite force is often called the reaction force. A rocket fires gases that are ignited and thrust in a backward direction to produce a force that propels the craft forward (“Momentum” 296-297). Another example of this is with a bullet. When the gases inside of the bullet are ignited, they push backward. The bullet, being in the rifle bore has only one direction to go: out. Thus the force of the gases igniting sends the bullet speeding out of the rifle towards its target (Clark 63). With these laws, modern day scientists have been able to determine why and how objects move the way that they do. The impact is similar to that of gravity and calculus because they are all directly related to eachother.
Throughout his 85 years of life on this planet, Sir Isaac Newton made many discoveries that explain why certain events occur on this world. He made discoveries that most scientists of his age could barely comprehend, let alone discover. If Newton had not done his experiment in the dark room with his prisms, humans might not be able to identify certain elements of the natural world. If Newton had not invented calculus to help explain planetary motion, humans might not know how to describe rates of change as well. It is possible and probable that someone else would eventually find these discoveries out as well, but Isaac Newton discovered more concepts in physics than most any other scientist of his age. He did it all on his own. The idea that one person could do so much and have such a huge impact on the world, kind of makes one think that one person is not as insignificant as Socrates thought. Humans may be just dust in the wind, but each little dust particle has the potential to do great things.
Works Cited
Clark, John O. Matter and Energy. 2nd Ed. ed. Vol. 1. New York: Oxford UniversityPress, 2003.
Hatch, Robert A. “Newton, Isaac .” Encyclopedia Americana. 2008. Grolier Online. 22 Jan. 2008 .
“Isaac Newton: A Versatile Intellect.” World History: The Modern Era. 2008. ABC-CLIO. 18 Jan. 2008 .
“Isaac Newton.” World History: The Modern Era. 2008. ABC-CLIO. 18 Jan. 2008 .
“Momentum.” The Kingfisher Science Encyclopedia. 1st ed. 2000.
Olson, Richard G. “The Scientific Revolution Reshapes the World.” The World and I Online. April 1999. World and I School.com. 27 Jan 2008 .
