On Mach's critique of Newton and Copernicus

Abstract

Maintaining the relativity of all motion, especially rotational motion, Mach denied the existence of absolute motion and absolute space. He maintained the equivalence of the Ptolemaic and the Copernican systems and the equivalence of a fixed bucket in a rotating universe with the converse. An analysis of the Foucault pendulum shows that there cannot be a fixed bucket in a rotating universe. Also, Mach's views violate the physics he espoused: non-inertial experiments, e.g. stellar aberration and electromagnetic effects, distinguish between a rotating bucket in a fixed universe and the converse, between the Copernican and the Ptolemaic systems, and establish that one cannot ascribe all observations solely to relative motion between a system and the universe.