In the history of science, vis viva (from the Latin for living force) is an obsolete scientific theory that served as an elementary and limited early formulation of the principle of conservation of energy. It was the first description of what we now call kinetic energy or of energy related to sensible motions.
Proposed by Gottfried Leibniz over the period 1676–1689, the theory was controversial as it seemed to oppose the theory of conservation of momentum advocated by Sir Isaac Newton and René Descartes. The two theories are now understood to be complementary.
The theory was eventually absorbed into the modern theory of energy though the term still survives in the context of celestial mechanics through the vis viva equation.
Read more about Vis Viva: History
Famous quotes containing the word vis:
“I have thought of a pulley to raise me gradually; but that would give me pain, as it would counteract my natural inclination. I would have something that can dissipate the vis inertiae and give elasticity to the muscles.... We can heat the body, we can cool it; we can give it tension or relaxation; and surely it is possible to bring it into a state in which rising from bed will not be a pain.”
—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)