Hello! Aristotle VS Galileo--Hmm Who was REALLY correct?

[SittingBull]

for ur informative ideas.
SittingBull

[Bodhi]

Sitting Bull, you are like someone who insists that Zeno was right and you can never get to the other side of the room. Even Aristotle could see through that one. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[bobdibble]

Technically, isn't Aristotle right?

The attraction between two objects is based on the mass of both objects. However, the earth's mass so dominates the mass of the objects in the experiment, that the difference is negligable... but there is still a difference.

[pzhon]

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Technically, isn't Aristotle right?

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Only if you grossly misrepresent the positions of Aristotle and Galileo. Then you can declare that Aristotle was right, and that you are a troll. <font color="white">Aristotle was wrong by a lot. We call that wrong. Galileo was wrong by a microscopic amount. We call that right.</font>

I think that is what this thread is about.

[bobdibble]

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and that you are a troll

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Want to play heads up?

[PairTheBoard]

[ QUOTE ]
Technically, isn't Aristotle right?

The attraction between two objects is based on the mass of both objects. However, the earth's mass so dominates the mass of the objects in the experiment, that the difference is negligable... but there is still a difference.



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It looks to me that if the objects are of the same shape, say spherical, and the same density, and the bottom of the objects are set at equal heights, the center of the larger heavier object will be slightly more distant from the center of the earth. Thus if the larger object is say twice as heavy as the smaller object, the gravitation force on it will be slightly less than double the smaller object. Therefore the smaller, lighter object might well hit bottom first!

PairTheBoard

[ThinkQuick]

Galileo proved Aristotle wrong with a 'thought experiment' as well.
Imagine a brick. You throw it off a tower. As it descends, it cracks and splits in two pieces - each of which is lighter than the original brick. Will it suddenly slow down to half the speed, as Aristotle suggested? Or will the pieces continue to fall together side by side?

Or imagine three identical balls, two of which are tied together with a string, dropped from a building. would the two that are tied (and hence now 'one' heavier object) drop faster?

[hurlyburly]

If you can find it, read the book "Celestial Matters", Bull. You'd like it.