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Why was the concept of momentum invented in the first place, and is it useful in the different discoveries and equations that came after?

J. W. Tanner
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Ayush Sharma
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  • Please consider adding what you know and what you have found so far. – Mauricio Sep 06 '22 at 11:39
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    There was no "first place". It was a long long 2000 year slog, from medieval impetus to 17th century "quantity of motion", to distinguishing momentum and kinetic energy, with projectiles, planetary motion, falling bodies, collisions, pendula, etc., playing a part at different points. For the final stages before the concept was codified in 18th century to unify all those different contexts, see What was the vis viva controversy? – Conifold Sep 07 '22 at 03:18

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Wikipedia has a decent history section. For more information about physics during that time period, Julian Barbour wrote an amazing book entitled The Discovery of Dynamics.

Alex Nelson
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