What Motion Really Is — with Richard Feynman

Motion is one of the most familiar ideas in physics and one of the most misunderstood.
In this long-form explanation, the concept of motion is explored through a teaching style inspired by Richard Feynman: careful reasoning, concrete examples, and an insistence on understanding what physics actually says, not what intuition assumes.

Rather than treating motion as something objects simply “have,” this talk examines motion as physicists understand it: a description of how positions change relative to one another over time, governed by rules that remain consistent across different viewpoints. No advanced mathematics is required. The focus is on meaning, not formulas.

This explanation is inspired by Richard Feynman’s approach to teaching physics—breaking complex ideas down to their foundations, questioning hidden assumptions, and showing why common sense often fails when applied to fundamental concepts.

Topics explored include:

What motion means at the most basic level in physics

Why motion is always relative and never absolute

How reference frames shape descriptions of motion

Why constant motion cannot be detected from within a closed system

The difference between motion and changes in motion

Why forces alter motion rather than create it

How inertia, mass, and interaction are connected

What experiments tell us about motion and rest

How motion fits into the broader structure of physical law

The explanation avoids poetic language and metaphors that obscure meaning. Instead, it stays grounded in physical reasoning and experimentally supported principles, following the spirit of Feynman’s teaching: clarity through honesty.

This is not an original lecture recording, nor a transcript of Richard Feynman’s words. It is an original educational presentation inspired by his teaching philosophy, intended for curious learners, students, and anyone who wants to understand motion well enough to explain it to others.

By the end, motion is no longer just an everyday word describing visible movement. It becomes a core idea that connects mechanics, astronomy, and modern physics into a single, coherent picture.

If you want to understand motion the way physicists think about it and the way Richard Feynman taught it, this explanation is designed for you.