Flying before gravity

[Rodgera]

399707

[ian]

can't even get the date right

[rwbuild]

Newton's law of universal gravitation states that a particle attracts every other particle in the universe using a force (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force) that is directly proportional (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directly_proportional) to the product of their masses and inversely proportional (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inversely_proportional) to the square of the distance between them.[note 1] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton%27s_law_of_universal_gravitation#cite_note-1) This is a general physical law (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_law) derived from empirical (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empirical) observations (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observation) by what Isaac Newton (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton) called induction (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inductive_reasoning).[1] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton%27s_law_of_universal_gravitation#cite_note-2) It is a part of classical mechanics (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_mechanics) and was formulated in Newton's work Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophi%C3%A6_Naturalis_Principia_Mathematica) ("the Principia"), first published on 5 July 1687. (When Newton's book was presented in 1686 to the Royal Society (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Society), Robert Hooke (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Hooke) made a claim that Newton had obtained the inverse square law from him; see the History (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton%27s_law_of_universal_gravitation#History) section below.)

[Rodgera]

I did not realise that a sense of humour was not a prerequisite for this forum!

[ian]

it's the 200 year error in the date that upsets me.



but as any reader of the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy knows, people can still fly -- the tricky bit is mastering the art of missing the ground :rolleyes:

[Mr Brush]

Just takes a gentle swoop.......and something very interesting to distract you from hitting the ground at just the right moment......:rolleyes:

Am I the only person who still misses Douglas Adams terribly, not to mention (Sir) Terry Pratchett?? :C