Where do Newton's laws come from?

Asked Nov 03 '14 at 08:41

Active Nov 03 '14 at 12:10

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I have studied physics for about three years at university but after these years I still don't know how Newton derived his laws.

I know that he tried to find the best model to describe the motions but It's a bit hard to believe for example how did he knew that an object can move at constant velocity without an external force? how he could be sure about that?!

Or, how could he derive his third law?, there was no instrument to measure forces or velocities..., he couldn't lie on the observations without any reliable data. Should I consider his laws as principles?!

edited Nov 03 '14 at 12:10

Qmechanic

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asked Nov 03 '14 at 08:41

jack

This question appears to be off-topic because it is about history not physics – John Rennie Nov 03 '14 at 08:46
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you are right but as a physicist everybody should know how the most important laws in physics have been derived .It's not all about history.I tagged history anyway thx – jack Nov 03 '14 at 08:59
possible duplicate of What in Newtons three laws of motion original to himself and not a paraphrasing of his predecssors See also History of interpretation of Newton's first law, How did Newton discover his second law?, How did Newton discover his third law of motion? – Nov 03 '14 at 09:11
@jack: you might also consider spelling newoton correctly and using capital letters for proper nouns and at the beginning of sentences. – John Rennie Nov 03 '14 at 09:19
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@jack if you are interested in the history of science, I suggest you go to the brand new SE site on this topic, which will enter open beta in one or two days. – Danu Nov 03 '14 at 21:44

Where do Newton's laws come from?

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