VORTEX THEORY
In Cartesian
cosmology, a vortex is a large circling band containing these planets or comets
and other material particles. Our solar system and the entire universe consist
of a network of interlocking vortices, which are subject to gravitational and
centrifugal powers.
René Descartes devised a Theory of
Vortices which postulated that the space was entirely filled with
matter in various states, whirling about the sun.
Descartes
attempted to figure out the enigma of gravity and the necessity of a medium in
space for any function to happen with the "Vortex" Theory of
colliding particles which hypothesized that the collisions supply the
force that pushed the planets towards the Sun.
Bodies once
in motion, remain in motion in a straight line unless and until they are
deflected from this line by the impact of another body. All changes of motion
are the result of such impacts.
He assumed
that the universe is filled with matter which, due to some initial motion, has
settled down into a system of vortices which carry the sun, the stars, the
planets and comets in their paths.
Planets move
around the Sun because they are swept around by whirlpools of a subtle matter
filling all space.
Matter and
motion were used by Descartes to explain every natural process by means of mechanical
models. They provided merely the "most likely models" which seemed
quite plausible if you try to apply basic laws of nature.
The vortex
theory likewise provided a built-in explanation for the common direction of all
planetary orbits. Additionally, the vortex theory allowed Descartes to endorse
a form of Copernicanism heliocentrism (sun-centered world) without running
afoul of Church censorship.
Descartes
believed that God created the universe as a perfect clockwork mechanism of
vortical motion that functioned deterministically thereafter without
intervention.
In the long
run, however, Descartes’ vortex theory failed because neither Descartes nor his
followers ever developed a systematic mathematical treatment of the vortex
theory that could match the accuracy and predictive scope of the (continuously
improving) Newtonian theory;
Newton's law
of universal gravitation states that every mass attracts every other mass in
the universe, and the gravitational force between two bodies is proportional to
the product of their masses, and inversely proportional to the square of the
distance between them.
Despite the
problems with the vortex theory it was championed in France for nearly one
hundred years even after Newton showed it was impossible as a dynamical system.
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