Huygens on collisions.pdfVIP

The History of Science Society Christiaan Huygens The Motion of Colliding Bodies Author(s): Richard J. Blackwell and Christiaan Huygen Source: Isis, Vol. 68, No. 4 (Dec., 1977), pp. 574-597 Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The History of Science Society Stable URL: /stable/230011 Accessed: 17/02/2010 13:59 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTORs Terms and Conditions of Use, available at /page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTORs Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at /action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ucpress. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@. The University of Chicago Press and The History of Science Society are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Isis. Christiaan Huygens The Colliding Bodies Motion of Translated by Richard J. Blackwelll Hypothesis I: Any body already in motion will continue to move perpetually with the same speed and in a straight line unless it is impeded.2 Hypothesis II: Whatever may be the cause of hard3 bodies rebounding from mutual contact when they collide with one another,4 let us suppose that when two bodies, equal to each other and having equal speed, directly collide with one a