From Newton's First Law to the Motion of Celestial Bodies

Abstract

Newton's original work "Principles" was written in Latin. An English version translated two years after his death changed the first law from "in directum" to "in a right line." Later generations think that only static or uniform straight line motion is inertia, while excluding rotational motion. This article proposes that the gravitational potential energy of a planet's revolution is equal to its centrifugal kinetic energy (mυ2). The work done by an object is a process quantity, but kinetic energy is a state variable that can be divided into instantaneous kinetic energy and average kinetic energy. Uniform motion does not do work, and instantaneous kinetic energy in variable speed motion does not also do work, only the average kinetic energy of variable speed motion does work. Only the energy between work and the average kinetic energy of variable speed motion can be converted into each other. We have clarified the relationship between work and kinetic energy, completed the transition of the kinetic energy formula at low and high speeds, achieved the unification of the kinetic energy formula and the mass energy relationship formula, and explained the √2 factor in the escape velocity..