On Huygens' derivation of the laws of elastic collisions

Abstract

In this note I sketch the work of Christiaan Huygens to develop a theory of motion and its application to elastic collisions. In this theory he uses the relativity of uniform linear motion to derive the conservation of momentum and kinetic energy (at the time referred to as living force or vis viva). The conservation of living force was used subsequently by Leibniz as a basic general principle of dynamics, an alternative to that of Newton set forth in the Principia Mathematica.