Natural and Violent Motions

Aristotle defined natural motion as the motion of an object or a body to its natural place. He believed that every object in the universe has its proper place and that any object that is not in its proper place would eventually seek its proper location. For example, a piece of stone, being part of Earth, will fall to the ground when it is dropped from a certain height. In contrast, smoke will rise because it belongs to the air.

Furthermore, Aristotle taught that objects will fall at speeds proportional to their weights. This means that larger objects are expected to try harder to find their proper places.

On the other hand, violent motion is the motion caused by a force or the result of a push and a pull. When force is not applied on a body, it ceases to move.