Humanity has been misinterpreting the main law of physics for 300 years

The main law of physics, which we know as the law of inertia, may not be what we think it is. A new translation from the Latin of Newton's Principia written in 1687, shows that Newton meant that any change in the momentum of a body is due to external forces.

Previously, it was believed that the law of inertia meant that an object would continue to move in a straight line or remain at rest if not affected by an external force. However, according to the new translation, Newton meant that every movement, fall, turn, or acceleration is due to the influence of external forces, ScienceAlert writes.

This new interpretation does not change the fundamentals of physics, but it has important implications. For example, it means that planets, stars, and other celestial bodies do not move in straight lines, as previously thought. In fact, they are constantly accelerating or decelerating under the influence of gravity and other forces.

This discovery also has implications for our understanding of how our universe works. It shows that all objects, from atoms to galaxies, obey the same physical laws.

The new interpretation of the law of inertia was made by the philosopher of language and mathematics Daniel Hooke of Virginia Tech University. He discovered that the common translation of the Latin word "quatenus" in the law of inertia was incorrect. This word means "in case if", not "so far".

Hooke believes that Newton would have probably taken into account the action of external forces in his law. He also argues that this new interpretation is consistent with the examples Newton gives in the Principia. For example, Newton says that a spinning top slows down as the spiral contracts due to air friction. This phenomenon can only be explained by the fact that the spinning wheel is subjected to an external force.

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