Abstract
A few years ago I presented a paper exploring ways that Newton’s method for solving equations could be used to
create or modify images. I was very pleased with the images so produced [1]. I decided to write a software framework
that would allow me to explore various systems of attractors and repellors. This year is the 350th anniversary of the
apple falling on Newton’s head. I thought it appropriate, therefore, to base my first experiment on rocket science.
The earliest rockets were probably developed in China during the 13th century for warfare and celebration. The
beginnings of the mathematical treatment of rocket science began in 1666. A young Isaac Newton had returned to
Lincolnshire from Cambridge University because of the great plague. He speculated that the force attracting the
apple to fall to earth was the same force that kept the moon orbiting the earth. This paper explores ways of applying
Newton’s laws of motion and gravity to the creation and modification of pictures. The chaotic nature of such pictures
is also explored.
