O conceito de ação à distância na obra Mecânica celeste de Pierre Simon Laplace

• Autor(a) principal: Sepulveda, Luís Dário
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertações da PUC_SP
• Texto Completo: https://tede2.pucsp.br/handle/handle/21829
• topic: História da Ciência; Laplace, Pierre Simon; Mecanica celeste; Ação à distância; History of Science; Mechanics, Celestial; Action at a distance; CNPQ::CIENCIAS HUMANAS::HISTORIA::HISTORIA DAS CIENCIAS

The present study aimed at understanding the concept of action at a distance based on the work Traité de Mécanique Céleste, written by Pierre Simon Laplace (1749-1827), published between the years 1796 and 1825, in France. The analysis of this five-volume work enabled us to observe how the author formulated his studies on physical phenomena in relation to his cosmology. The interpretation of action at a distance focused on the study of the capillarity of celestial motion and on the study of universal gravitation. Such interpretation of action at a distance was based on the work that has drawn on the differential and integral calculus equation, on the empirical observations carried out by astronomy during the 17th and the 18th centuries, in order to approach and develop his understandings of natural phenomena. In our readings regarding Laplace's historiography, we have selected some books and academic papers that traced his life, academic background, political roles and publications. His theory of universal gravitation interacts with the Newtonian gravitation, particularly in this study. This perspective enabled us to detect the discussions of continuity in the history of science, such as the phenomena associated with molecular interactions, that would be controled by attractive and repulsive forces, not sensible to imperceptible distances; and the phenomena related to celestial motion interactions, that would be governed by the law of universal gravitation