4 ms·
As a layman, this sounds very much like Newton's first law: An object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon
by brianberns 9y ago
As a layman, this sounds very much like Newton's first law: An object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.
- ssivark 9y agoYes, that allusion was deliberate on my part. Newton's first law is a manifestation of the symmetry principle when position "x" is the coordinate under consideration. Force is proportional to gradient(Potential) so any asymmetry in the way the Potential depends on the position produces a Force which changes the Momentum. So, Momentum is the conserved quantity corresponding to the symmetry that all positions are equivalent.
- brianberns 9y agoThank you, this is a very helpful explanation.
- aphextron 9y ago>As a layman, this sounds very much like Newton's first law: An object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. Many equations in physics are simply restatements of other laws showing the same relationship. For instance Coloumb's law for electromagnetic attraction [0], and Newton's law of gravitational attraction [1]. [0] http://home.fnal.gov/~cheung/rtes/RTESWeb/LQCD_site/objects/coulombslaw.png http://home.fnal.gov/~cheung/rtes/RTESWeb/LQCD_site/objects/... [1] https://kaiserscience.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/force-gravity.jpg https://kaiserscience.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/force-grav...