Definition of impetus

The word "impetus" derives from the Latin word "impetus," which means "push" or "thrust." It initially referred to the force that propelled an object in motion, particularly in the context of projectiles such as arrows and balls. In medieval science, impetus was considered as a force inherent in the projectile itself, as opposed to the more widely accepted modern concept of gravity as the determining factor for motion. The idea of impetus persisted in scientific thought until the 16th century, when Aristotelian physics was challenged by the new scientific method based on experimentation and empirical evidence propagated by thinkers like Galileo and Newton. As a result, the concept of impetus has since been largely abandoned and replaced by the more scientifically accurate theories of motion.