Galileo On Motion | |
At
the University of Pisa, Galileo learned the physics of the Ancient Greek
scientist, Aristotle. However, Galileo questioned the Aristotelian approach
to physics. Aristotelians believed that heavier objects fall faster through
a medium than lighter ones. Galileo eventually disproved this idea by asserting
that all objects, regardless of their density, fall at the same rate in
a vacuum. To determine this, Galileo performed various experiments in which
he dropped objects from a certain height. In one of his early experiments,
he rolled balls down a gently sloping inclined plane and then determined
their positions after equal time intervals. He wrote down his discoveries
about motion in his book, De Motu,
which means "On Motion." |
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Text, design, and layout by Megan Wilde for the Electronic Text Center. This biography is based upon information culled from The Galileo Project website. |