This wasn’t the revolutionary part about Newton’s conception of inertia. It was the counterpart: that an object in motion will tend to keep going forever unless acted upon by a force. This was pretty staggering in a world where an arrow fired from a bow (below escape velocity, you snitty little pedants) will slow down and fall to the ground as though getting tired on its own.
The prevailing theory in Europe at time was still Aristotle’s idea that a force was necessary for objects to remain in motion. The theories on how an arrow or any other thrown object remained in motion involved an impromptu Rube Goldberg contraption involving the object and the atmosphere.
This wasn’t the revolutionary part about Newton’s conception of inertia. It was the counterpart: that an object in motion will tend to keep going forever unless acted upon by a force. This was pretty staggering in a world where an arrow fired from a bow (below escape velocity, you snitty little pedants) will slow down and fall to the ground as though getting tired on its own.
The prevailing theory in Europe at time was still Aristotle’s idea that a force was necessary for objects to remain in motion. The theories on how an arrow or any other thrown object remained in motion involved an impromptu Rube Goldberg contraption involving the object and the atmosphere.
Pretty much every science fiction film too. With very few notable exceptions.
Cannon or musket ball would be more fitting for the time imo
I was trying to call back to Aristotle’s discussion of how this system supposedly worked.
Oh alright