Galileo on Motion

My purpose is to set forth a very new science dealing with a very ancient subject. There is, in nature, perhaps nothing older than motion, concerning which the books written by philosophers are neither few nor small; nevertheless I have discovered by EXPERIMENT some properties of it which are worth knowing and which have not hitherto been either observed or

Scientific revolution Experiment

Supporter of Copernicanism Telescope

Legacy

Father of science

So, whos Galileo?

Scientific method Father of modern physics Father of modern Astronomy Freedom of thought & the Catholic Church

First and second laws of motion

Bridging the Gap:

Aristotle to Galileo
Philoponus
533 A.D.

Ockham
1300s

Oresme
1330s

Avicenna
980 A.D.

Buridan

Galileos Life
Born in 1564 in Pisa of Vincenzo Galilei and Guilia Ammannati Florence University of Pisa; 1581-1585 Chair of Mathematics Univ. of Pisa 1589 Father dies in 1591; Professory of Mathematics at the University of Padua Meets Maria Gamba; Virginia (later Sister Maria Celeste) is born (1600), Livia (1601), later Sister Arcangela, and Vincenzio (1606) 1609; the spyglass
Cardinal Robert Bellarmine

1616 wrote the Letter to the Grand Duchess 1630 wrote Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief Systems of the World Inquisition bans the Dialogue and Galileo is sentenced to lifetime house arrest 1634 his daughter, Virginia, dies

Philosophy is written in this grand book, the universe, which stands continually open to our gaze. But the book cannot be understood unless one first learns to comprehend the language and read the characters in which it is written. It is written in the language of mathematics, and its characters are triangles, circles, and other geometric figures without which it is humanly impossible to understand a single word of it; without these one is wandering in a dark labyrinth.
Galileo from The Assayer

Works
De Motu (1602-1604) never published Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief Systems of the World (1625-1630) -1632 Discourses and mathematical demonstrations concerning the two new sciences (1633-1642)-1638

Galileos Qualifiers
Rectilinear vs. Circular Motion
Straight line motion or motion parallel with the surface of the earth?

Criterion of Simplicity Agreement with experiment

Kinematics: Quantitative description of the motion of bodies VS. Dynamics: Causes of such motion

 Vs. uniform motion motion in which equal distances are covered in equal increments of time A motion is said to be uniformly accelerated when, starting from rest, its speed receives equal increments in equal times

Naturally Accelerated Motion/Constant Acceleration

Inclined Plane Experiments

~ 100 trials with various inclinations for various lengths of time

http://brunelleschi.imss.fi.it/genscheda.asp?appl=SIM&xsl=multimed&lingua=ENG&chiave=500045 http://brunelleschi.imss.fi.it/genscheda.asp?appl=SIM&xsl=multimed&lingua=ENG&chiave=500065

What do we make of this?

Finds that the distance of descent always varies closely to the square of the time Algebra had yet to be applied to such problems The final velocity of the ball depended on how high the plane was, not directly to the planes incline angle

Projectile Motion
1. 2. Constant downward acceleration Maintains constant horizontal velocity

Treat vertical and horizontal motions

independently Combination of two components will agree with observed trajectory Observed trajectory is parabolic

Projectile Motion
Derived Equations Horizontal Vertical Parabolic Trajectory

x = vot y = 1/2gt2
y = ( g ) x2 2v2o

Projectile Motion

http://brunelleschi.imss.fi.it/genscheda.asp?appl=SIM&xsl=multimed&lingua=ENG&chiave=500098

The Components of Motion

http://www.makingthemodernworld.org.uk/larning_modules/maths/04.TU.02/?

Inertia

Momentum product of the weight of a body times its velocity Inertia - a body in motion tends to stay in motion (doesnt specify straight-line)
http://id.mind.net/~zona/mstm/physics/mechanics/forces/galileo/galileoInertia.html

http://brunelleschi.imss.fi.it/genscheda.asp?appl=SIM&xsl=multimed&lingua=ENG&chiave=500135

Break from Aristotelian Philosophy?

Objects are no longer purposeful break from teleology

***Disclaimer: Concepts of inertia did not begin only with Galileo

Galileo on Aristotle
Pg 84 in book and open discussion

Pisa
Dropped balls diff. mass Independent of mass Thus, disproving Aristotle

Questions?

Summary: http://brunelleschi.imss.fi.it/genscheda.asp?appl=SIM&xsl=multimed&lingua=ENG&chiav

All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them. Galileo