One must only observe rocks rolling down a hill to see heavier things have more momentum at the same speed, it’s surprising it was not documented even earlier
The importance Newton’s work wasn’t in the pithy phrasing, but in the equasions of motion that he worked out. In other words, yes, most people could see that a big rock is harder to get moving than a small one, but keeps going more, but Newton was the one to devise the equasiobs that explained the why and how much.
One must only observe rocks rolling down a hill to see heavier things have more momentum at the same speed, it’s surprising it was not documented even earlier
The importance Newton’s work wasn’t in the pithy phrasing, but in the equasions of motion that he worked out. In other words, yes, most people could see that a big rock is harder to get moving than a small one, but keeps going more, but Newton was the one to devise the equasiobs that explained the why and how much.
Everyone knew how it worked ,in practice, Newton figured out how it worked in theory ;-)