[Physltest] [Phys-L] Re: historical question

[Greg Clements <clements@MLC.EDU>]

I have a collection of physics books back to 1833.  I skimmed through the
books looking for discussion of torque, angular momentum and moment of
inertia.

Books 1 - 7 have  no discussion of angular momentum or moment of inertia.
Discussion of levers, pulleys and simple machines is standard in these
books.

1. J. L. Blake 1833  "Conversations on Natural Philosophy...Adapted to the
Comprehension of Young Pupils"

2. J. L. Comstock 1844  "A System of Natural Philosophy ...Designed for the
use of Schools and Academies"    page 68 The force of the lever increases in
proportion to the distance of the power (applied force .. my note) from the
fulcrum..."

3. E. S. Snell 1869  A revised version of "An Introduction to Natural
Philosophy Designed as a Text-book for the use of Students in College" 1844
by D. Olmsted   page 68 "...the power (applied force..my note) and weight
are inversely as the lengths of the arms on which they act."   "...the
moment of the power equals the moment of the weight, with respect to the
fulcrum."

4. J. D. Steele 1878  "Fourteen Weeks in Physics"  page 70  "A force
multiplied by its perpendicular distance from a point is called the moment
or turning effort of the force about that point as a pivot."   This book
does briefly describe Conservation of Energy.

5. E. M. Avery 1881 "Elements of Natural Philosophy, A Text-book for High
Schools and Academies"  page 88 "The moment of force ... is the product of
the numbers representing respectively the magnitude of the force and the
perpendicular distance between the given point and the line of the force."
This book uses the terms Kinetic and Potential Energy and discusses
Conservation of Energy.  page 82 "...energy is as indestructible as matter."

6. G. A. Hoadley 1908  "Elements of Physics" "The moment of a force is the
product of the force by the perpendicular distance from the center of
moments to the direction of hte force."

7. R. A. Millikan and H. G. Gale 1927 "Elements of Physics" page 121 "...the
product of a force by its lever arm is called the moment of that force."


8. A. W. Duff, ed.  1908 "A Text-book of Physics"  page 66 "The product fp,
that is the product of p (lever arm ...my note) by the component of F
perpendicular to the axis, is called the moment of F about the axis and mr^2
is called the moment of inertia of m about the axis."   This book does not
use the word "torque."

The book by Duff is is the earliest textbook I have that discusses moment of
inertia.  The book also discusses Conservation of Angular Momentum.  The
book has 666 pages.  There may be discussions of moment of inertia and
angular momentum in physics books from the 1800's that are longer and more
thorough in coverage of topics than the ones I have collected. The physics
books I have from the 1800's are on the order of 250 pages and often include
a section on Astronomy.

I have a book by Carhart, 1918, "College Physics" that discusses torque.
page 66 "When the force is applied to turn a shaft, the moment is usually
called the torque." The book does not have a discussion of cross products.

As a side note, the first college level physics book I have in my collection
is the one by
Snell, 1869.  Does someone on the PHYS-L list know the approximate date when
publishing of college physics books was done in large quantities in the USA?

Greg Clements
Midland Lutheran College

----- Original Message -----
From: "Larry Smith" <larry.smith@SNOW.EDU>
To: <PHYS-L@LISTS.NAU.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, November 09, 2004 5:15 PM
Subject: historical question


> Did Newton do much with rotating rigid bodies (torque, angular momentum,
> moment of inertia, etc.), or were those later developments?  If later, who
> were the leading lights in the explication of the mechanics of rotating
> rigid bodies?  The cross product hadn't been invented in Newton's day.  Or
> maybe torque goes back to Archimedes and his levers.  One web site
> (http://astron.berkeley.edu/~jrg/ay202/node63.html) attributes the
> rotational version of N2 to Euler.
>
> Thanks,
> Larry
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