Changes

: I believe that the story about Galileo dropping rocks from the leaning tower of Pisa is now regarded as false. I don't know why everyone attacks Aristotle so much on this point, because heavier objects really do fall faster when air resistance is considered. [[User:RSchlafly|RSchlafly]] 17:57, 5 May 2007 (EDT)

: I believe that the story about Galileo dropping rocks from the leaning tower of Pisa is now regarded as false. I don't know why everyone attacks Aristotle so much on this point, because heavier objects really do fall faster when air resistance is considered. [[User:RSchlafly|RSchlafly]] 17:57, 5 May 2007 (EDT)

::Galileo attacks Aristotle by saying that, if you drop two objects, one weighing a hundred times as much as the other, a hundred cubits, Aristotle predicts the heavy object will win by 99 cubits, Galileo predicts a tie, and the actual experiment show the heavy object wins by the breadth of two fingers. "You would not hide behind these two fingers the ninety-nine cubits of Aristotle." And that's fair. Galileo's physical model is a good approximation, Aristotle's isn't even close.

::Galileo attacks Aristotle by saying that, if you drop two objects, one weighing a hundred times as much as the other, a hundred cubits, Aristotle predicts the heavy object will win by 99 cubits, Galileo predicts a tie, and the actual experiment show the heavy object wins by the breadth of two fingers. "You would not hide behind these two fingers the ninety-nine cubits of Aristotle." And that's fair. Galileo's physical model is a good approximation, Aristotle's isn't even close. '

 

::That's assuming Galileo is representing Aristotle fairly. I ''think'' he is, but I'm not sure.

::I don't think it's that "everyone" attacks Aristotle. I think generations of oversimplified textbooks copying from each other have repeated Galileo's attack on Aristotle, who was simply wrong on this point. Galileo himself slightly messed up the square-cube relationship in his bone illustration, by the way... What most people think about this point is probably based on a few sentences from a junior-high-school science book, or maybe a teacher who was overdramatizing. It's sort of like "Columbus thought the world was round when everyone else thought it was flat."  

::I don't think it's that "everyone" attacks Aristotle. I think generations of oversimplified textbooks copying from each other have repeated Galileo's attack on Aristotle, who was simply wrong on this point. Galileo himself slightly messed up the square-cube relationship in his bone illustration, by the way... What most people think about this point is probably based on a few sentences from a junior-high-school science book, or maybe a teacher who was overdramatizing. It's sort of like "Columbus thought the world was round when everyone else thought it was flat."