Newton's Dark Secrets

In what year was Isaac Newton born?

1642

What event forced Cambridge University to close, allowing Newton to return home and work on his ideas?

An outbreak of the plague

According to the famous apple story, what important connection did Newton recognize?

The force pulling an apple downward also keeps the Moon in orbit

 What branch of mathematics did Newton develop to study quantities that change continuously?

Calculus

What did Newton’s prism experiments reveal about white light?

White light contains colors of the visitble spectrum

Why did Newton design a reflecting telescope?

To reduce the color distortion produced by lenses

Which scientific organization elected Newton as a member after his telescope attracted attention?

The Royal Society

Who became Newton’s major scientific rival after criticizing his work on light?

Robert Hooke

What was the main goal of alchemists seeking the philosopher’s stone?

To transform ordinary metals into gold and achieve other extraordinary effects

What did historian Bill Newman demonstrate by recreating Newton’s alchemical experiments?

Some of Newton’s procedures produced reproducible chemical results

According to the documentary, why did Newton keep some of his religious beliefs secret?

 His rejection of the Trinity could have endangered his career and freedom

What year did Newton calculate as a possible time for the end of the world as described in biblical prophecy?

2060

Which astronomer visited Newton and asked about the shape of planetary orbits under an inverse-square attractive force?

Edmund Halley

According to the inverse-square law, what happens to gravitational attraction when the distance between two objects doubles?

It becomes one-fourth as strong

What shape did Newton mathematically demonstrate for planetary orbits under an inverse-square gravitational force?

Ellipses

According to Newton’s first law of motion, what happens to an object moving at constant velocity if no net external force acts on it?

 It continues moving at the same velocity

 What does Newton’s second law explain?

How an object’s acceleration depends on the net force acting on it

What does Newton’s cannonball thought experiment demonstrate?

 An object moving fast enough horizontally can continuously fall around Earth in orbit

What was the major scientific significance of Newton’s universal law of gravitation?

It established that the same gravitational law applies on Earth and throughout the universe

What central message does the documentary communicate about Newton’s scientific and personal life?

 His investigations of science, alchemy, and religion were interconnected parts of his search for truth