Book contents
- Frontmatter
- EDITOR'S PREFACE
- PREFACE
- Contents
- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- CHAPTER I BELIEFS AND SUPERSTITIONS RELATIVE TO COMETS
- CHAPTER II COMETARY ASTRONOMY UP TO THE TIME OF NEWTON
- CHAPTER III THE MOTIONS AND ORBITS OF COMETS
- CHAPTER IV PERIODICAL COMETS
- CHAPTER V PERIODICAL COMETS
- CHAPTER VI THE WORLD OF COMETS AND COMETARY SYSTEMS
- CHAPTER VII PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION OF COMETS
- CHAPTER VIII PHYSICAL TRANSFORMATIONS OF COMETS
- CHAPTER IX MASS AND DENSITY OF COMETS
- CHAPTER X THE LIGHT OF COMETS
- CHAPTER XI THEORY OF COMETARY PHENOMENA
- SECTION I WHAT IS A COMET?
- SECTION II CARDAN'S HYPOTHESIS
- SECTION III THEORY OF THE IMPULSION OF THE SOLAR BAYS
- SECTION IV HYPOTHESIS OF AN APPARENT REPULSION
- SECTION V THEORY OF OLBERS AND BESSEL
- SECTION VI THEORY OF COMETARY PHENOMENA
- SECTION VII THE REPULSIVE FORCE A REAL PHYSICAL FORCE
- SECTION VIII THEORY OF THE ACTINIC ACTION OF THE SOLAR RAYS
- SECTION IX COMETS AND THE RESISTANCE OF THE ETHER
- CHAPTER XII COMETS AND SHOOTING STARS
- CHAPTER XIII COMETS AND THE EARTH
- CHAPTER XIV PHYSICAL INFLUENCES OF COMETS
- CHAPTER XV SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT COMETS
- I ELLIPTIC ELEMENTS OF THE RECOGNISED PERIODICAL COMETS OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM
- II GENERAL CATALOGUE OF THE ORBITS OF COMETS
- Plate section
SECTION IV - HYPOTHESIS OF AN APPARENT REPULSION
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 March 2012
- Frontmatter
- EDITOR'S PREFACE
- PREFACE
- Contents
- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- CHAPTER I BELIEFS AND SUPERSTITIONS RELATIVE TO COMETS
- CHAPTER II COMETARY ASTRONOMY UP TO THE TIME OF NEWTON
- CHAPTER III THE MOTIONS AND ORBITS OF COMETS
- CHAPTER IV PERIODICAL COMETS
- CHAPTER V PERIODICAL COMETS
- CHAPTER VI THE WORLD OF COMETS AND COMETARY SYSTEMS
- CHAPTER VII PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION OF COMETS
- CHAPTER VIII PHYSICAL TRANSFORMATIONS OF COMETS
- CHAPTER IX MASS AND DENSITY OF COMETS
- CHAPTER X THE LIGHT OF COMETS
- CHAPTER XI THEORY OF COMETARY PHENOMENA
- SECTION I WHAT IS A COMET?
- SECTION II CARDAN'S HYPOTHESIS
- SECTION III THEORY OF THE IMPULSION OF THE SOLAR BAYS
- SECTION IV HYPOTHESIS OF AN APPARENT REPULSION
- SECTION V THEORY OF OLBERS AND BESSEL
- SECTION VI THEORY OF COMETARY PHENOMENA
- SECTION VII THE REPULSIVE FORCE A REAL PHYSICAL FORCE
- SECTION VIII THEORY OF THE ACTINIC ACTION OF THE SOLAR RAYS
- SECTION IX COMETS AND THE RESISTANCE OF THE ETHER
- CHAPTER XII COMETS AND SHOOTING STARS
- CHAPTER XIII COMETS AND THE EARTH
- CHAPTER XIV PHYSICAL INFLUENCES OF COMETS
- CHAPTER XV SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT COMETS
- I ELLIPTIC ELEMENTS OF THE RECOGNISED PERIODICAL COMETS OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM
- II GENERAL CATALOGUE OF THE ORBITS OF COMETS
- Plate section
Summary
Views of Newton on the formation of the tails of cornets–Action of heat and rarefaction of the cometary matter–The ethereal medium, losing its specific weight, rises opposite the sun, and carries with it the matter of the tail–Objections which have been made to the hypothesis of a resisting and ponderable medium.
Newton, in order to explain the formation of the tails of comets, had recourse to no other causes than the ordinary action of the calorific rays on the one hand, and that of gravitation on the other. But, although he does not introduce any new force, he is obliged to suppose that the comet during the whole time that its tail is developing is traversing a medium subject to the force of gravitation and tending towards the sun.
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- Chapter
- Information
- The World of Comets , pp. 369 - 371Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010First published in: 1877