Trivia - If 'm' is a light stone and 'M' is a heavy one, according to Aristotle 'M' should fall faster than 'm'.

Galileo attempted to show that Aristotle's belief was logically inconsistent by the following argument.

Tie 'm' and 'M' together to form a double stone. Then, in falling, 'm' should retard 'M', since it tends to fall more slowly, and the combination would fall faster than 'm' but more slowly than 'M'; but according to Aristotle the double body (M+m) is heavier than 'M' and hence should fall faster than 'M'.

Question

Trivia - If 'm' is a light stone and 'M' is a heavy one, according to Aristotle 'M' should fall faster than 'm'.

Galileo attempted to show that Aristotle's belief was logically inconsistent by the following argument.

Tie 'm' and 'M' together to form a double stone. Then, in falling, 'm' should retard 'M', since it tends to fall more slowly, and the combination would fall faster than 'm' but more slowly than 'M'; but according to Aristotle the double body (M+m) is heavier than 'M' and hence should fall faster than 'M'.

lastdaywork · Answer

If you accept Galileo's reasoning as correct, can you conclude that 'M' and 'm' must fall as the same rate? What need is there for experiment in that case?

If you believe Galileo's reasoning is incorrect, explain why?

lastdaywork · Answer

PS: The question is take from "Physics Part I" by "Robert Resnick & David Halliday"

unklerhaukus · Answer

Aristotle was no scientist

lastdaywork · Answer

Ποιος τολμά να πει δεν είμαι επιστήμονας;

isaiah.feynman · Answer

Galileo's  reasoning is correct.  He proved this experimentally, that the distance fallen by any body is proportional to the square of the time taken to fall that distance. We know that the proportionality constant here is g (gravitational acceleration). Which we assume is constant on all points on the earth's surface.

lastdaywork · Answer

If Galileo could contradict Aristotle's theory simply by logic, why would he need to perform an experiment ??

isaiah.feynman · Answer

Galileo was a scientist, not a logician. But in science its true that statements need to be logical, also in science the key thing is experiment nothing else. If you propound a theory, you need experimentation to support your claim. If it doesn't agree with experiment then its wrong.

lastdaywork · Answer

I don't really have an authentic answer for this question (there wasn't any in the book). My reasoning is that Galileo's argument was flawed as he implicitly assumed the superposition principle for Gravitational forces.

Hence, he has to resort to experimentation to validate his point.

isaiah.feynman · Answer

There is no thing as "resort to experiment" in science my friend, you do it. Why science has lasted so long is because of reasoning, observation, and experimentation. If experimentation Galileo's point then it has to be consistent. Mind you that till today scientists has shown the reproducibility of his experiments, they weren't wrong.

lastdaywork · Answer

@Isaiah.Feynman
Thanks :)