Equations of motion modification consistent with conservation of momentum, see variable-mass system. It may be simple to write down the equations of motion in vector form using Newton's laws of motion, but the components may vary in complicated ways with spatial coordinates and time, and solving them is not easy. Often there is an excess of variables to solve for the problem completely, so Newton's laws are not always the most efficient way to determine the motion of a system. In simple cases of rectangular geometry, Newton's laws work fine in Cartesian coordinates, but in other coordinate systems can become dramatically complex. The
Speed of gravity radiation field or fluid. Changes in the motion of the attracting body are transmitted by some sort of waves. Therefore, the movements of the celestial bodies should be modified in the order "v/c", where "v" is the relative speed between the bodies and "c" is the speed of gravity. The effect of a finite speed of gravity goes to zero as "c" goes to infinity, but not as 1/"c" as it does in modern theories. This led Laplace to conclude that the speed of gravitational interactions is at least 7×10 times the speed of light. This velocity was used by