GALILEO GALILEI AND FREE FALL - PHYSICAL - 2025

Galileo Galilei and his studies on free fall became one of the most important experiments in the world of physics.

Galileo performed not one, but several experiments in order to show that two bodies in free fall, regardless of their weight, would travel the distance at the same time.

Portrait of Galileo Galilei by Justus Sustermans.

Despite the fact that free fall theories have been previously mentioned in Aristotle's studies, Galileo Galilei took up the work with several experiments.

Finally he managed to finish rejecting the theory that heavier bodies would fall faster than lighter bodies.

Galileo Galilei

Galileo Galilei was an Italian physicist, astronomer, mathematician and engineer born on February 15, 1564 in Tuscany.

He is known worldwide as the father of astronomy and modern physics thanks to the studies and experiments carried out throughout his life. He died on January 8, 1642 in Tuscany.

Discoveries: The Telescope and Free Fall

Thanks to his unique intelligence and curiosity, in 1609 Galileo Galilei presented an instrument known today as the first telescope.

It was a kind of high magnification binocular, with which he was able to discover mountains, lunar craters and was even able to discover that the Milky Way was surrounded by stars.

On the other hand, Galileo was one of the pioneers in physical testing in the world. Thanks to the experiment he carried out from the Tower of Pisa, he discovered that bodies in free fall travel the distance at the same time regardless of the weight of each one.

Free fall

Free fall is the movement of a body where there is no type of resistance or gravitational force.

Various factors intervene in this type of movement, such as the shape of the body or the medium through which it is moving.

Aristotle theory

Aristotle's theory of free fall indicated that heavier bodies would fall faster than lighter bodies.

The problem with this theory is that it did not take into account the resistant factors that may exist in the displacement medium, such as air, and therefore it was not accurate.

Galileo Galilei's theory

Galileo Galilei's theory rejected Aristotle's theory, since it expressed that in the absence of resistance factors such as air, all bodies weighed the same and therefore would travel the distance of fall at the same time.

Galileo was able to demonstrate this theory despite not having the necessary instruments to create a vacuum by subtracting air. This instrument was created several years after his death, approximately in 1650.

One of the best known experiments regarding this theory was carried out with two spheres on an inclined plane.

In this experiment, Galilei used two spheres of different weights and noted that in inclined planes, their behavior did not differ much.

By using these planes he was able to calculate more precisely during the experiment.

References

1. Free Fall. Retrieved on December 7, 2017, from Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org.
2. Galileo Galilei. Retrieved on December 6, 2017, from Biography: www.biography.com
3. Galileo Galilei. Retrieved on December 7, 2017, from Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org.
4. Galileo. Retrieved on December 6, 2017, from Encyclopædia Britannica: www.britannica.com.
5. Introduction to Free Fall. Retrieved on December 7, 2017, from The Physics Classroom: www.physicsclassroom.com