Newtonian Mechanics
Part II. Newtonian mechanics 30 4. Newtonian mechanics In this part of the book, we consider N-particle Newtonian mechanics: this chapter in- troduces the theory and its symmetries, the next discusses the rationale for regarding symmetry-related models as physically equivalent, and the one after that considers how we might seek to revise the theory to incorporate that judgment of physical equiv- alence. 4.1. Introduction to N-particle Newtonian mechanics In the first instance, we will describe this theory in terms of coordinates. We therefore expect that at least some of the structure of the theory will be unphysical, a mere ‘arte- fact of the coordinate system’. However, we will refrain from making intuitive judg- ments about which structural features correspond to physical features: in due course, we will use symmetry considerations to make such judgments. To set this up, we introduce a gadget that we will use repeatedly in what follows. Given some mathematical structure ⌦, an ⌦-valued variable is one whose intended range is ⌦—thus, given a Tarski-model A, a first-order variable is a A -valued variable, and | | a second-order variable of arity n is a ( A n)-valued variable. Then, given a set P | | ⇠ ,...,⇠ of ⌦-valued variables, the value space associated with that set consists of { 1 m} all maps from ⇠ ,...,⇠ to ⌦. Note that given an ordering on the variables, such a { 1 m} map can also be thought of as an m-tuple of elements of ⌦: such an m-tuple, after all, is simply a map from 1, . , m to ⌦. Thus, the value space is isomorphic to ⌦m.1 { } Now, without worrying too much about what doing this might mean, we take as given a coordinate system with x-, y- and z-axes, which persists over time; and we take as given some clock that measures the passage of time.
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