Newton's Principia and inverse-square orbits in a resisting medium: A spiral of twisted logic
Not everything that mathematicians write is correct, not every argument is logical: there have been several well-known recent instances concerning Riemann and Fermat: Homer nods. Therefore we expect to find flaws in Dirichlet, Kelvin, Gauss, and Euler, as well as Newton. Proposition XV/Theorem XII in Book Two of Newton's \textit{Principia} purports to find the spiral path of a body attracted by a central force with an inverse-square law through a medium which retards it in proportion to the square of its speed. Detailed reasons are given to support the conclusion that Newton's argument is illogical; the illogicality is presented in detail. Like Weierstrass's complaint against Dirichlet's and Kelvin's method of proof, Weinstock gives a counterexample to the method of Newton's proof. The commentaries on Newton by King-Hele, Chandrasekhar and Erlichson are reviewed in similar style.
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- Isaac Newton: Credit where Credit Won't Do
- Newton's \textit{Principia} and inverse-square orbits: The flaw reexamined
- Patterns of mathematical thought in the later seventeenth century
- Resisted Inverse-square Centripetal Force Motion along Newton's Great 'Look-Alike', the Equiangular Spiral
- Newton's \textit{Principia} and inverse-square orbits: The flaw reexamined
- Newton's problems with rigid body dynamics in the light of his treatment of the precession of the equinoxes
- Newton on the equiangular spiral: An addendum to Erlichson's account
- Newton's errors with the rotational motion of fluids
- Lost in translation? Reading Newton on inverse-cube trajectories
- Long-buried dismantling of a centuries-old myth: Newton’s P r i n c i p i a and inverse-square orbits
- Resisted Inverse-square Centripetal Force Motion along Newton's Great 'Look-Alike', the Equiangular Spiral
- On newton's proof that inverse-square orbits must be conics
- Letter to the editor
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