Editing Mechanics (section)

=== Medieval age ===
{{Main|Theory of impetus}}
[[File:Arabic machine manuscript - Anonym - Ms. or. fol. 3306 c.jpg|thumb|200px|Arabic machine in a manuscript of unknown date]]
In the Middle Ages, Aristotle's theories were criticized and modified by a number of figures, beginning with [[John Philoponus]] in the 6th century. A central problem was that of [[projectile motion]], which was discussed by [[Hipparchus]] and Philoponus.

Persian Islamic polymath [[Ibn Sīnā]] published his theory of motion in ''[[The Book of Healing]]'' (1020). He said that an impetus is imparted to a projectile by the thrower, and viewed it as persistent, requiring external forces such as [[air resistance]] to dissipate it.<ref name=Espinoza>{{cite journal | last1 = Espinoza | first1 = Fernando  | date = 2005 | title = An analysis of the historical development of ideas about motion and its implications for teaching | journal = Physics Education | volume = 40 | issue = 2| page = 141 | doi=10.1088/0031-9120/40/2/002|bibcode = 2005PhyEd..40..139E | s2cid = 250809354 }}</ref><ref name=Nasr>{{Cite book |title=The Islamic intellectual tradition in Persia |author=[[Seyyed Hossein Nasr]] & Mehdi Amin Razavi |publisher=[[Routledge]] |date=1996 |isbn=978-0-7007-0314-2 |page=72}}</ref><ref name=Sayili>{{cite journal|doi=10.1111/j.1749-6632.1987.tb37219.x|author=[[Aydin Sayili]]|date=1987|title=Ibn Sīnā and Buridan on the Motion of the Projectile |journal= Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences|volume=500|issue=1|pages=477–482|bibcode=1987NYASA.500..477S|s2cid=84784804}}</ref> Ibn Sina made distinction between 'force' and 'inclination' (called "mayl"), and argued that an object gained mayl when the object is in opposition to its natural motion. So he concluded that continuation of motion is attributed to the inclination that is transferred to the object, and that object will be in motion until the mayl is spent. He also claimed that a projectile in a vacuum would not stop unless it is acted upon, consistent with Newton's first law of motion.<ref name="Espinoza" />

On the question of a body subject to a constant (uniform) force, the 12th-century Jewish-Arab scholar [[Hibat Allah Abu'l-Barakat al-Baghdaadi]] (born Nathanel, Iraqi, of Baghdad) stated that constant force imparts constant acceleration. According to [[Shlomo Pines]], al-Baghdaadi's theory of [[Motion (physics)|motion]] was "the oldest negation of [[Aristotle]]'s fundamental dynamic law [namely, that a constant force produces a uniform motion], [and is thus an] anticipation in a vague fashion of the fundamental law of [[classical mechanics]] [namely, that a force applied continuously produces acceleration]."<ref>{{cite encyclopedia  | last = Pines  | first = Shlomo  | title = Abu'l-Barakāt al-Baghdādī , Hibat Allah  | encyclopedia = [[Dictionary of Scientific Biography]]  | volume = 1  | pages = 26–28   | publisher = Charles Scribner's Sons  | location = New York  | year = 1970  | isbn = 0-684-10114-9 }}
<br />([[cf.]] Abel B. Franco (October 2003). "Avempace, Projectile Motion, and Impetus Theory", ''Journal of the History of Ideas'' '''64''' (4), p. 521-546 [528].)</ref>

Influenced by earlier writers such as Ibn Sina<ref name="Sayili" /> and al-Baghdaadi,<ref name=Gutman>{{citation|title=Pseudo-Avicenna, Liber Celi Et Mundi: A Critical Edition|first=Oliver|last=Gutman|publisher=[[Brill Publishers]]|year=2003|isbn=90-04-13228-7|page=193}}</ref> the 14th-century French priest [[Jean Buridan]] developed the [[theory of impetus]], which later developed into the modern theories of [[inertia]], [[velocity]], [[acceleration]] and [[momentum]]. This work and others was developed in 14th-century England by the [[Oxford Calculators]] such as [[Thomas Bradwardine]], who studied and formulated various laws regarding falling bodies. The concept that the main properties of a body are uniformly accelerated motion (as of falling bodies) was worked out by the 14th-century [[Oxford Calculators]].