Helmholtz, the conservation of force and the conservation of vis viva

• Published in: Annals of science Vol. 76; no. 1; pp. 17 - 57
• Main Author: Caneva, Kenneth L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Taylor & Francis 02.01.2019; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Conservation; conservation of energy; conservation of force; conservation of vis viva; Hermann Helmholtz; conservation of; conservation of force; conservation of energy; Hermann Helmholtz
• ISSN: 0003-3790; 1464-505X
• DOI: 10.1080/00033790.2018.1564936

This paper investigates the relationship between Helmholtz's formulation of the principle of the conservation of force and the two principles well known in rational mechanics as the principle of vis viva and the principle of the conservation of vis viva. An examination of the relevant literature from Leibniz to Duhamel reveals both Helmholtz's indebtedness to that tradition and his creative refashioning of it as he endeavoured to craft an argument that would both prohibit the construction of a perpetuum mobile and the efficacy of a supposed vital force and demonstrate the necessity of an ontology of mass points subject to attractive and repulsive central forces depending solely on distance.