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Motion in Three Dimensions
Photo by Clarence White, ca. 1903.
6Newton’s Laws in Three
Dimensions
6.1Forces Have No Perpendicular Effects
Suppose you could shoot a rifle and arrange for a second bullet to be
dropped from the same height at the exact moment when the first left the
barrel. Which would hit the ground first. Nearly everyone expects that the
dropped bullet will reach the dirt first, and Aristotle would have agreed.
Aristotle would have described it like this. The shot bullet receives some
forced motion from the gun. It travels forward for a split second, slowing
Section 6.1Forces Have No Perpendicular Effects