Water in Nature and the Rebound of Colliding Bodies
The cycle of water as an element; bombards and the laws of percussion
The page opens with a natural history of water as the second element—cold and damp, ever seeking low ground, rising as vapor and returning as rain, snow, or hail. The rest turns to the laws of percussion, drawn with bombards whose balls cross overhead or collide in mid-air: equal bodies rebound to equal distances, the smaller of two colliding bodies rebounds farther, and a struck body flees while its equal striker is left spent in its place.
On this page
Water as the second element and its cycle
Water is the second element surrounding the earth; the part outside its sphere strives to return, falling faster the higher it has risen. Cold and damp, it seeks low places, rises into vapors and mists, and falls again as rain, snow, or hail as its droplets gather.
Equal bodies rebound to equal distances
Bodies of equal movement, weight, and force that collide in their impetuous course rebound backward to equal distances from the place where their percussion sounded. Two bombards fired upward, their trajectories crossing in the air, illustrate the blow.
The smaller body rebounds farther
If two bodies of the same material strike each other, driven by equal causes along a straight line, one jumps back farther than the other in proportion as it is smaller. The horizontal bombards fire two unequal balls that meet and rebound.
A struck body flees while the striker stays
A fixed body struck by its equal will flee its place, while the striking body remains where the one that fled had been. A bombard fires a ball into an equal ball resting on the ground.