Clockwork universe

Arguably, it is for Newton s Laws of Motion that he is most revered. These are the three basic laws that govern the motion of material (35) objects. Together, they gave rise to a general view of nature known as the clockwork universe. The laws are (1) Every object moves in a straight line unless acted upon by a force. (2) The acceleration of an object is direcdy proportional to the net force exerted and inversely proportional to the object s mass. (3) For every action, there is an equal (40) and opposite reaction. 

In line 36, what does the term clockwork universe most nearly mean ... 

Since the days of Newton and Descartes, scientists had been riding high on the idea that they were dealing with a clockwork universe and that the motions of all things were ultimately predictable if one could just get the equations right. Boltzmann and Gibbs had shaken... 

Without this luxury Laplace set out to assess the natural stability of the system. When asked by Napoleon to clarify the role of God in this, he replied "I have no need of that hypothesis". The first important result, which he demonstrated mathematically, was that the irregularities in the eccentricities and inclinations of planetary orbits oscillate about fixed values, without amplification, and hence never deviate too far from the ideal orbits. He could therefore theorize that the solar system remains indefinitely stable. Like some self-correcting clockwork, driven by the universal force of gravitation, the solar system was concluded to be inherently stable and predictable. Laplace saw no reason why the whole universe should not be dynamically stable in the same sense. He claimed that ... 

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