10 The Law of Falling Objects
The class gasped, “Aristotle? Wrong?!” The first fact every schoolboy learned in beginning science was that the writings of the ancient Greek philosopher, Aristotle, were the
foundation of science. One of Aristotle’s central theorems stated that heavier objects fall
faster because they weigh more.
Galileo climbed onto his desk, held the bricks at eye level, and let them fall. Thud!
Both bricks crashed to the floor. “Did the heavier brick fall faster?” he demanded.
The class shook their heads. No, it had not. They landed together.
“Again!” cried Galileo. His students were transfixed as Galileo again dropped the
bricks. Crash! “Did the heavy brick fall faster?” No, again the bricks landed together. “Aristotle is wrong,” declared their teacher to a stunned circle of students.
But the world was reluctant to hear Galileo’s truth. On seeing Galileo’s brick demonstration, friend and fellow mathematician Ostilio Ricci admitted only that “This double
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