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And so did everything else that wasn’t continually pushed or pulled.

For instance, when a loose stone was given a kick, it traveled for a while and eventually came to a halt. They had observed that objects in motion would eventually come to a halt. The general consensus was that the natural state of all matter was at rest. Two of such questions were these: what is the natural state of matter? Is it at rest or in motion? You see, ancient Greek philosophers grappled with fundamental questions on the nature of motion. The ancient Greeks for example, tried to understand absolute motion and it didn’t end very well for them. In fact, when we try to do so, we ran into some serious logical problems. There isn’t a universal way of looking at motion. Read: Principle of Relativity (Wikipedia) The early ideas on motion So we will not delve much deeper into it. However, the principle of relativity is beyond the scope of Newton’s first law of motion, which is the objective of this article. Albert Einstein further refined the concept and used it as the basis of his special theory of relativity in 1905. Isaac Newton developed the concept from Galileo in his study of the motion of bodies and used it to deduce his first law of motion, also known as the law of inertia. Put in another way, there’s no physical law you can perform that’ll let you know whether you are moving or not.Īlthough the principle of relativity is synonymous with Albert Einstein, it has its roots in the works of Galileo Galilei back in the 15th Century. In its simplest form, the principle of relativity says that the laws of physics are identical in a moving* or a static system. You see just as beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, so is motion in the eyes of the observer – it depends on who you are asking (and their state of sobriety)! And both observers would be right of their own accord. Another observer in a slightly modified condition may perceive the same “motion” differently. According to this principle, motion is subjective an observer can only perceive motion in relation to or by comparison with other objects in their vicinity. (The aforementioned argument is only valid for bodies exhibiting uniform or force-free motion, more on this later)įor more discussion on the motion of bodies, read: What is motion in physics? Introducing the principle of relativityĪlthough you and Amy cannot agree on who is moving and who is stationary, the principle of relativity declares that you are both right. Leaving her with the familiar question…Īnd here’s our first wrinkle: who is moving? Then off you disappear into the darkness of space. You turn your head to look at her as you pass by, and she in turn, waves at you.

With time, she is able to deduce that the light is coming from a beacon on your spacesuit. Where is she going? You wonder as you get back to your reading.Īmy on the other hand, analyses this encounter as follows: From her perspective, like you, she sees a tiny pulse of flashing light getting closer and closer to her. And just as she appeared, she recedes into the darkness of space and is lost out of sight. She slowly passes by, waving her hand at you as she does. When it finally gets close enough, you can see that it’s a beacon light attached to the spacesuit of another space-drifter, Amy.

Then suddenly you catch a faint sight of a red flashing light that appears to be getting closer. No stars or light of any kind not a single dot in the bare dark sky. In any case, I can guarantee there is motion all around you.īut for the sake of this article, let us suppose that you are reading this from deep space, so deep that when you lift up your eyes to look around through the glass helmet of your spacesuit, all you see is pitch darkness. Perhaps a bug buzzing around, a sound of a passing car, birds singing outside, a distant siren, or a screech of a chair. Whenever you may be, I am sure if you look around or listen carefully to your environment, you will note some hints of motion. You could be sitting on a bus, in your room, at a cafe, in a park, or even lying on your bed. I don’t know where you are as you are reading this.