THE NEW MECHANICS.[1]
IN this world, as you know, nothing is final, nothing immutable; the most powerful, the most stable empires are not eternal: this is a theme the preachers abundantly develop.
Scientific theories are like empires, they are not certain of the morrow. If any one of them seemed beyond the effects of time, it was certainly the Newtonian mechanics. It seemed undisputed, it was an imperishable monument; and behold in its turn, I shall not say the monument is thrown down, that would be premature, but anyhow it is greatly shaken. It is subjected to the attacks of powerful destroyers. There is one in Göttingen, Max Abraham, another is the Dutch physicist Lorentz. I wish to say a few words about the ruins of the ancient edifice and about the new structure by which it is sought to replace them.
First of all what is it that characterizes the old mechanics? It is this very simple fact: Consider a body at rest, impart to it an impulse, that is to say make a given force act upon it for a given time; the body moves, acquires a certain velocity; the body being impelled by this velocity, apply to it again the same force for the same time, the velocity will be doubled; if we still continue, the velocity will be tripled when we shall have given a third time the same impulse. So beginning again a sufficient number of times, the body will end by acquiring a very great velocity which can exceed all limit, an infinite velocity.
- ↑ Translated from the French by George Bruce Halsted.
