Newton Paper

Isaac Newton
1642 - 1727

Isaac Newton is called the "Father of Physics" because a lot of people think of him as the first person to make the study of motion his major work. He also was credited with making major advancements in mathematics and optics.

Your assignment is to research not only Isaac Newton but other scientists that came before him and those that were inteacting with him during his time of discovery. From this research you are to write a paper explaining what significance and changes in the world Newton's work was credited with. You are also to discover and write about what and who influenced Newton to do what he did. Was all his work independent or did he rely on others to do some ground work. Why did Newton do the work he did as opposed to other work? What were his other interests? What was Newton's life like? Who did he acquire ideas from? Who acquired ideas from him? I want you to find out what the man was like and what motivated him? Does he really deserve the credit he gets? What would have happened if Newton had not been born?

Your paper is a research paper of undetermined length. You have a story to tell and how completely you tell it cannot be designated in page numbers. The research paper must be annotated with credits for your material. I will be using "Turn it in" to look for stolen and non-creditied work. The more analysis of your own and synthesis of research you do the greater your grade will be.

You will turn in both a hard copy and an electronic copy.

An alternate assignment will be to write a research paper on one of the following mathematicians/scientists: Galileo Galilei, Johan Kepler, Tyco Brahe, Robert Boyle, Robert Hooke, Edmond Halley, christopher Wren or Gottfried Leibniz.

The purpose of this research paper will be similar to that of a Newton Paper except that the goal is to tell the story of this scientist or mathetician and how he discovered what is was that he worked on, why he worked on it, etc. and then relate his work to what Newton was doing. You must relate this person's work to Newton's work. How did the work from this scientist benefit or detract from what Newton was doing? How did Newton benefit from this person's work? Did the men have a personal relationship, what was it like, why was it like that? How was history influenced by the accomplishments of the two men in conjunction with one another?

Your paper is a research paper of undetermined length. You have a story to tell and how completely you tell it cannot be designated in page numbers. The research paper must be annotated with credits for your material. I will be using "Turn it in" to look for stolen and non-creditied work. The more analysis of your own and synthesis of research you do the greater your grade will be.

You will turn in both a hard copy and an electronic copy.

Grading will follow the rubric below:

History Paper

70pts.

Brief facts of Newton's life

80pts

Facts of Newton's life and some history of other's work preceding Newton

90 pts

Some discussion of
Newton's motives and thoughts. What Newton borrowed from others and how he felt about the others whose work he utilizedd.

100

Comprehensive report of Newton's life and thoughts. Good summary of other work that Newton used to arrive at his conclusions.

Total available

100

50 of the ponits will be awarded upon the successful submission of an outline by Nov.14th. The final paper will be due by Dec. 2nd. Each portion will be considered as a separate test grade..

Alternate Assignment

History Paper

70pts.

Brief facts of Scientest's life

80pts

Facts of Scientist's life and some history of interaction with Newton

90 pts

Some discussion of
the interactions with Newton. What concepts were used by Newton and what was your guys reaction to Newton's use of them

100

Comprehensive report of interaction with Newton. Good summary of work used by Newton used to arrive at his conclusions.

Total available

100

50 of the ponits will be awarded upon the successful submission of an outline by Nov.14th. The final paper will be due by Dec. 2nd. Each portion will be considered as a separate test grade..

Resources for this step

"Physics" by Holt Rinehart Winston our textbook, Chapter 4 & Chapter 5

http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Indexes/1600_1649.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophiae_Naturalis_Principia_Mathematica

http://dibinst.mit.edu/BURNDY/Collections/Babson/OnlineNewton/Principia.htm

http://www.beyondbooks.com/psc91/4.asp

http://wshs.wtvl.k12.me.us/~physics361/mechanics/newtlaws.html

http://galileoandeinstein.physics.virginia.edu/lectures/lecturelist.html

http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/history/galileo.html

http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/history/newton3laws.html

http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/HistTopics/Newton_bucket.html

http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/HistTopics/Gravitation.html