to Centre of Inertia and Moment of Momentum, a number of important propositions such as the following: centre of (a) The centre of inertia of a rigid body moving in any Motion of manner, but free from external forces, moves uniformly in a inertia of a straight line. (b) When any forces whatever act on the body, the motion of the centre of inertia is the same as it would have been had these forces been applied with their proper magnitudes and directions at that point itself. rigid body. momentum body. (c) Since the moment of a force acting on a particle is the Moment of same as the moment of momentum it produces in unit of time, of a rigid the changes of moment of momentum in any two parts of a rigid body due to their mutual action are equal and opposite. Hence the moment of momentum of a rigid body, about any axis which is fixed in direction, and passes through a point which is either fixed in space or moves uniformly in a straight line, is unaltered by the mutual actions of the parts of the body. (d) The rate of increase of moment of momentum, when the body is acted on by external forces, is the sum of the moments of these forces about the axis. tion of and of mo ment of momentum. 267. We shall for the present take for granted, that the Conservamutual action between two rigid bodies may in every case be momentum, imagined as composed of pairs of equal and opposite forces in straight lines. From this it follows that the sum of the quantities of motion, parallel to any fixed direction, of two rigid bodies influencing one another in any possible way, remains unchanged by their mutual action; also that the sum of the moments of momentum of all the particles of the two bodies, round any line in a fixed direction in space, and passing through any point moving uniformly in a straight line in any direction, remains constant. From the first of these propositions we infer that the centre of inertia of any number of mutually influencing bodies, if in motion, continues moving uniformly in a straight line, unless in so far as the direction or velocity of its motion is changed by forces acting mutually between them and some other matter not belonging to them; also that the centre of inertia of any body or system of bodies moves riable The "Inva- just as all their matter, if concentrated in a point, would move Plane" is a under the influence of forces equal and parallel to the forces plane centre of pendicular to the resultant axis. through the really acting on its different parts. From the second we infer inertia, per- that the axis of resultant rotation through the centre of inertia of any system of bodies, or through any point either at rest or moving uniformly in a straight line, remains unchanged in direction, and the sum of moments of momenta round it remains constant if the system experiences no force from without. This principle used to be called Conservation of Areas, Terrestrial a very ill-considered designation. From this principle it follows that if by internal action such as geological upheavals or subsidences, or pressure of the winds on the water, or by evaporation and rain or snow-fall, or by any influence not depending on the attraction of sun or moon (even though dependent on solar heat), the disposition of land and water becomes altered, the component round any fixed axis of the moment of momentum of the earth's rotation remains constant. application. Rate of doing work. Horsepower. 268. The foundation of the abstract theory of energy is laid by Newton in an admirably distinct and compact manner in the sentence of his scholium already quoted (§ 263), in which he points out its application to mechanics*. The actio agentis, as he defines it, which is evidently equivalent to the product of the effective component of the force, into the velocity of the point on which it acts, is simply, in modern English phraseology, the rate at which the agent works. The subject for measurement here is precisely the same as that for which Watt, a hundred years later, introduced the practical unit of a “Horsepower," or the rate at which an agent works when overcoming 33,000 times the weight of a pound through the space of a foot in a minute; that is, producing 550 foot-pounds of work per second. The unit, however, which is most generally convenient is that which Newton's definition implies, namely, the rate of doing work in which the unit of energy is produced in the unit of time. The reader will remember that we use the word "mechanics" in its true classical sense, the science of machines, the sense in which Newton himself used it, when he dismissed the further consideration of it by saying (in the scholium referred to), Cæterum mechanicam tractare non est hujus instituti. 269. Looking at Newton's words (§ 263) in this light, we Energy in see that they may be logically converted into the following dynamics. form : Work done on any system of bodies (in Newton's statement, the parts of any machine) has its equivalent in work done against friction, molecular forces, or gravity, if there be no acceleration; but if there be acceleration, part of the work is expended in overcoming the resistance to acceleration, and the additional kinetic energy developed is equivalent to the work so spent. This is evident from § 214. When part of the work is done against molecular forces, as in bending a spring; or against gravity, as in raising a weight; the recoil of the spring, and the fall of the weight, are capable at any future time, of reproducing the work originally expended (§ 241). But in Newton's day, and long afterwards, it was supposed that work was absolutely lost by friction; and, indeed, this statement is still to be found even in recent authoritative treatises. But we must defer the examination of this point till we consider in its modern form the principle of Conservation of Energy. 270. If a system of bodies, given either at rest or in motion, be influenced by no forces from without, the sum of the kinetic energies of all its parts is augmented in any time by an amount equal to the whole work done in that time by the mutual forces, which we may imagine as acting between its points. When the lines in which these forces act remain all unchanged in length, the forces do no work, and the sum of the kinetic energies of the whole system remains constant. If, on the other hand, one of these lines varies in length during the motion, the mutual forces in it will do work, or will consume work, according as the distance varies with or against them. abstract tive system. 271. A limited system of bodies is said to be dynamically Conservaconservative (or simply conservative, when force is understood to be the subject), if the mutual forces between its parts always perform, or always consume, the same amount of work during any motion whatever, by which it can pass from one particular configuration to another. Foundation 272. The whole theory of energy in physical science is founded on the following proposition: of thetheory of energy. Physical If the mutual forces between the parts of a material system are independent of their velocities, whether relative to one another, or relative to any external matter, the system must be dynamically conservative. For if more work is done by the mutual forces on the different parts of the system in passing from one particular configuration to another, by one set of paths than by another set of paths, let the system be directed, by frictionless conMotion is straint, to pass from the first configuration to the second by introduced. one set of paths and return by the other, over and over again for ever. It will be a continual source of energy without any axiom that "the Perpetual impossible" energy of conserva tive system. consumption of materials, which is impossible. Potential 273. The potential energy of a conservative system, in the configuration which it has at any instant, is the amount of work required to bring it to that configuration against its mutual forces during the passage of the system from any one chosen configuration to the configuration at the time referred to. It is generally, but not always, convenient to fix the particular configuration chosen for the zero of reckoning of potential energy, so that the potential energy, in every other configuration practically considered, shall be positive. 274. The potential energy of a conservative system, at any instant, depends solely on its configuration at that instant, being, according to definition, the same at all times when the system is brought again and again to the same configuration. It is therefore, in mathematical language, said to be a function of the co-ordinates by which the positions of the different parts of the system are specified. If, for example, we have a conservative system consisting of two material points; or two rigid bodies, acting upon one another with force dependent only on the relative position of a point belonging to one of them, and a point belonging to the other; the potential energy of the system depends upon the co-ordinates of one of these points relatively to lines of reference in fixed directions through the other. It will therefore, in general, depend on three indepen energy of tive system. dent co-ordinates, which we may conveniently take as the dis- Potential tance between the two points, and two angles specifying the conservaabsolute direction of the line joining them. Thus, for example, let the bodies be two uniform metal globes, electrified with any given quantities of electricity, and placed in an insulating medium such as air, in a region of space under the influence of a vast distant electrified body. The mutual action between these two spheres will depend solely on the relative position of their centres. It will consist partly of gravitation, depending solely on the distance between their centres, and of electric force, which will depend on the distance between them, but also, in virtue of the inductive action of the distant body, will depend on the absolute direction of the line joining their centres. In our divisions devoted to gravitation and electricity respectively, we shall investigate the portions of the mutual potential energy of the two bodies depending on these two agencies separately. The former we shall find to be the product of their masses divided by the distance between their centres; the latter a somewhat complicated function of the distance between the centres and the angle which this line makes with the direction of the resultant electric force of the distant electrified body. Or again, if the system consist of two balls of soft iron, in any locality of the earth's surface, their mutual action will be partly gravitation, and partly due to the magnetism induced in them by terrestrial magnetic force. The portion of the mutual potential energy depending on the latter cause, will be a function of the distance between their centres and the inclination of this line to the direction of the terrestrial magnetic force. It will agree in mathematical expression with the potential energy of electric action in the preceding case, so far as the inclination is concerned, but the law of variation with the distance will be less easily determined. loss of visible mo 275. In nature the hypothetical condition of § 271 is appa- Inevitable rently violated in all circumstances of motion. A material system energy of can never be brought through any returning cycle of motion tions. without spending more work against the mutual forces of its parts than is gained from these forces, because no relative motion can take place without meeting with frictional or |