GALILEO'S WORK ON PROJECTILE MOTION

In Aristotle's theory of motion, projectiles were pushed along by an external force which was transmitted through the air. His medieval successors internalized this force in the projectile itself and called it "impetus." This impetus caused the object to move in a straight line until it was expended, at which point the object fell straight to the ground. While objects projected through small distances may appear to behave in this manner, under closer inspection and when viewing projectiles traveling greater distances, it becomes clear that projectiles do not behave in this manner. During the Renaissance, the focus, especially in the arts, was on representing as accurately as possible the real world whether on a 2 dimensional surface or a solid such as marble or granite. This required two things. The first was new methods for drawing or painting, e.g., perspective. The second, relevant to this topic, was careful observation. With the spread of cannon in warfare, the study of projectile motion had taken on greater importance, and now, with more careful observation and more accurate representation, came the realization that projectiles did not move the way Aristotle and his followers had said they did: the path of a projectile did not consist of two consecutive straight line components but was instead a smooth curve. [1] Now someone needed to come up with a method to determine if there was a special curve a projectile followed. But measuring the path of a projectile was not easy. Using an inclined plane, Galileo had performed experiments on uniformly accelerated motion, and he now used the same apparatus to study projectile motion. He placed an inclined plane on a table and provided it with a curved piece at the bottom which deflected an inked bronze ball into a horizontal direction. The ball thus accelerated rolled over the table-top with uniform motion and then fell off the edge of the table Where it hit the floor, it left a small mark. The mark allowed the horizontal and vertical distances traveled by the ball to be measured.

Sir Isaac Newton

Sir Isaac Newton PRS MP (25 December 1642 20 March 1727 [NS: 4 January 1643 31 March 1727])[1] was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher,alchemist and theologian, who has been "considered by many to be the greatest and most influential scientist who ever lived."[7] His monograph Philosophi Naturalis Principia Mathematica, published in 1687, lays the foundations for most of classical mechanics. In this work, Newton described universal gravitation and the three laws of motion, which dominated the scientific view of the physical universe for the next three centuries. Newton showed that the motions of objects on Earth and of celestial bodies are governed by the same set of natural laws, by demonstrating the consistency between Kepler's laws of planetary motion and his theory of gravitation, thus removing the last doubts aboutheliocentrism and advancing the Scientific Revolution. Newton's laws of motion are three physical laws that form the basis for classical mechanics. They describe the relationship between the forces acting on a body and its motion due to those forces. They have been expressed in several different ways over nearly three centuries,[1] and can be summarized as follows: 1. First law: Every object continues in its state of rest, or of uniform motion in a straight line, unless compelled to change that state by external forces acted upon it.[2][3][4] 2. Second law: The acceleration a of a body is parallel and directly proportional to the netforce F acting on the body, is in the direction of the net force, and is inversely proportional to the mass m of the body, i.e., F = ma.

3. Third law: When two bodies interact by exerting force on each other, these action andreaction forces are equal in magnitude, but opposite in direction.

Aristotle: Motion and its Place in Nature

Aristotles account of motion can be found in the Physics. By motion, Aristotle (384-322 BCE) understands any kind of change. He defines motion as the actuality of a potentiality. Initially, Aristotles definition seems to involve a contradiction. However, commentators on the works of Aristotle, such as St. Thomas Aquinas, maintain that this is the only way to define motion. In order to adequately understand Aristotles definition of motion it is necessary to understand what he means by actuality and potentiality. Aristotle uses the words energeia and entelechiainterchangeably to describe a kind of action. A linguistic analysis shows that, by actuality, Aristotle means both energeia, which means being-at-work, and entelechia, which means being-at-an-end. These two words, although they have different meanings, function as synonyms in Aristotles scheme. For Aristotle, to be a thing in the world is to be at work, to belong to a particular species, to act for an end and to form material into enduring organized wholes. Actuality, for Aristotle, is therefore close in meaning to what it is to be alive, except it does not carry the implication of mortality. From the Middle Ages to modern times, commentators disagreed on the interpretation of Aristotles account of motion. An accurate rendering of Aristotles definition must include apparently inconsistent propositions: (a) that motion is rest, and (b) that a potentiality, which must be, if anything, a privation of actuality, is at the same time that actuality of which it is the lack. St. Thomas Aquinas was prepared to take these propositions seriously. St. Thomas observes that to say that something is in motion is just to say that it is both what it is already and something else that it is not yet. Accordingly, motion is the mode in which the future belongs to the present, it is the present absence of just those particular absent things which are about to be. St. Thomas thus resolves the apparent contradiction between potentiality and actuality in Aristotles definition of motion by arguing that in every motion actuality and potentiality are mixed or blended. St. Thomas interpretation of Aristotles definition of motion, however, is not free of difficulties. His interpretation seems to trivialize the meaning of entelechia. One implication of this interpretation is that whatever happens to be the case right now is an entelechia, as though something which is intrinsically unstable as the instantaneous position of an arrow in flight deserved to be described by the word which Aristotle everywhere else reserves for complex organized states which persist, which hold out in being against internal and external causes tending to destroy them. In the Metaphysics, however, Aristotle draws a distinction between two kinds of potentiality. On the one hand, there are latent or inactive potentialities. On the other hand, there are active or at-work potentialities. Accordingly, every motion is a complex whole, an enduring unity which organizes distinct parts. Things have being to the extent that they are or are part of determinate wholes, so that to be means to be something, and change has being because it always is or is part of some determinate potentiality, at work and manifest in the world as change.

Assignment in Science
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The Origin of This World (Maranao) from the Anthology of Philippine Myths by Damiana L. Eugenio 1 According to Maranaw folklore, this world was created by a great Being. It is not known, however, who exactly is this great Being. Or how many days it took him to create this world. 2 This world is divided into seven layers. The earth has also seven layers. Each layer is inhabited by a different kind of being. The uppermost layer, for example, is the place we are inhabiting. The second layer is being inhabited by dwarfs. These dwarfs are short, plump, and long-haired. They are locally known as Karibanga. The Karibanga are said to possess magical powers. They are usually invisible to the human eye. The third layer of the earth which is found under the sea or lake is inhabited by nymphs. These nymphs also possess certain magical powers. It is stated in the story of Rajah Indarapatra that he met and fell in love with the princessnymph with whom he had a child. 3 The sky also consists of seven layers. Each layer has a door which is guarded day and night by huge mythical birds called garoda. The seventh layer of the sky is the seat of heaven which is also divided into seven layers. Every layer in the sky is inhabited by angels. Maranaws believe that

angels do not need food. They all possess wings with which they fly. 4 Heaven which is found on the seventh layer of the sky is where good peoples spirits go after death. Saints are assigned to the seventh layer while persons who barely made it are confined to the lower most layer which is found at the bottom of heaven. 5 It is in heaven where we find the tree-of-life. On each leaf of the tree-of-life is written the name of every person living on earth. As soon as a leaf ripens or dries and falls, the person whose name it carries also dies. 6 The soul of every person is found in tightly covered jars kept in one section of heaven. This particular section of heaven is closely guarded by a monster with a thousand eyes, named Walo. Walo, in addition to his thousand eyes, has also eight hairy heads. The epic Darangan speaks of Madale, Bantugans brother and, Mabaning, Husband of Lawanen, entering this section and retrieving the soul of Bantugan.