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How about just physics? "Newtonian physics" is a fake and outdated attribution anyway.
by echopurity 5y ago
How about just physics? "Newtonian physics" is a fake and outdated attribution anyway.
- whatshisface 5y agoNewtonian physics is a specific kind of physics distinct from other kinds which is why it has a sub-name.
- sp332 5y agoNewton only contributed the three laws of motion to the model. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Newtonian_mechanics https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Newtonian_mechani... The model includes additions from Leibnitz, Euler, Lagrange, and others from around the same time. The name "classical mechanics" doesn't pretend that Newton came up with all that stuff.
- whatshisface 5y agoClassical mechanics includes everything that's not quantum, including general relativity and the Navier-Stokes equation. It is not a suitable term for Newtonian mechanics because it already refers to a much larger category.
- sp332 5y agoAccording to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_mechanics#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_mechanics#History, that's a recent change. It didn't used to include special or general relativity.
- whatshisface 5y agoWell obviously it couldn't include general relativity before it was discovered. :-)
- ajford 5y agoOr 'Classical Mechanics' as most university courses refer to it. Newtonian mechanics is an outdated name for simplified mechanics that approximate accurately for "normal" physics situations, at least normal for a human's daily life at this point in time. The opposite end of this spectrum is Relativistic Mechanics, which takes over when the approximations fall away at realms deviating far from normal, such as high mass systems, those at speeds approaching C, or Quantum Mechanics for small scale like atomic interactions.
- whatshisface 5y agoClassical mechanics wraps up general relativity, Newtonian mechanics, and analytic mechanics (which itself wraps up Hamiltonian mechanics and Lagrangian mechanics) into one name. It can also include fluid mechanics and other forms of continuum mechanics. Newtonian mechanics specifically refers to the formulation of finite-particle mechanics as a second order differential equation set in an inertial reference frame. Typical introductory physics classes teach Newtonian mechanics specifically.
- akomtu 5y agoNewtonian refers to a particular model of physics. There's also Ptolematic model, the GR model and many others. But Newtonian is the most popular.