The Inverse Cube Force Law

John C. Baez

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arXiv · 2604.24799

The Inverse Cube Force Law

John C. Baez

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Abstract

Newton's Principia is famous for its investigations of the inverse square force law for gravity. But in this book Newton also did something that remained little-known until fairly recently. He figured out what kind of central force exerted upon a particle can rescale its angular velocity by a constant factor without affecting its radial motion. This turns out to be a force obeying an inverse cube law! Here we discuss this and some other interesting features of the inverse cube force law.

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John C. Baez. 2026-04-26. The Inverse Cube Force Law. https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.24799

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