This paper explores the mechanical models elaborated by projectile theorists throughout the eighteenth century to explain the reflection of light. Influenced by Isaac Newton’s Opticks, these projectile theorists proposed that repulsion was the cause of reflection. My purpose is to show that their models were not unified and lacked a deeper understanding of the origin of repulsive powers. This analysis illustrates how a simple optical phenomenon was not easy for eighteenth-century theorists to explain, even when the projectile theory of light was prominent among natural philosophers.

中文翻译：

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十八世纪光的投射理论中的反射问题

本文探讨了 18 世纪射弹理论家详细阐述的机械模型，以解释光的反射。受艾萨克牛顿的光学影响，这些射弹理论家提出排斥是反射的原因。我的目的是表明他们的模型并不统一，并且对排斥力的起源缺乏更深入的理解。这一分析说明了一个简单的光学现象对于 18 世纪的理论家来说是多么不容易解释，即使光的投射理论在自然哲学家中很突出。