WHY WE BELIEVE

THAT
THE LAWS OF
PHYSICS
ARE UNIVERSAL
7.1 Aristotelian Conceptions: Vertical Motion,
Horizontal Motion, and Projectile Motion
Objective
At the end of the lesson, you should be able to explain Aristotle’s conceptions in motion
(vertical motion, horizontal motion, and projectile motion).

Aristotle is one of most influential Greek philosophers whose ideas were the basis for
many concepts that time.

How did he view and explain the motion of objects?

Aristotle’s view on motion was based on his observations, which made his ideas
acceptable and stood for many years.
Motion is an object’s change in position with respect to time. According to Aristotle,
motion can either be a natural motion or a violent motion.

Natural Motion
An object will move and will eventually return to its natural state depending on the
composition that the object is made of. An object made of material similar to earth will return to
earth or an object that is similar to air will return to the air. For example, a ball mostly resembles
the earth so when it is thrown upward its natural tendency is to go back to Earth, its natural state
or the smoke mostly resembles the air so its natural tendency is to go up the atmosphere.

Violent motion
An object will move if an external force such as pushing or pulling is applied to it. No
motion will take place unless there is a 'mover' in contact with an object.

Aristotle’s View on Projectile Motion

Aristotle believed that the motion of an object is parallel to the ground until it is the
object's time to fall back into the ground. An impetus will be kept by the object until such time
that the initial force is forgotten, and the object returns to its natural state to stop moving and fall
to the ground.

Example:
A cannon is fired which give the cannonball an impetus that will dictate its course until
such time that the impetus is forgotten, and the cannonball will naturally fall to the ground.

What do you think?

What ideas challenged the Aristotelian principle of motion?

Key Points
 According to Aristotle, motion can either be a natural motion or a violent motion.
  An object will move and will eventually return to its natural state depending on the
composition that the object is made of. This referred as the natural motion of an
object.
 An object will move if an external force such as pushing or pulling is applied to it. This is
referred as the violent motion of an object.
 The motion of an object is parallel to the ground until it is the object's time to fall back
into the ground. This is referred as the projectile motion of an object.

7.2 Galilean Conceptions: Vertical Motion, Horizontal

Motion, and Projectile Motion
Objectives
In this lesson, you should be able to describe how Galileo used his discoveries in
mechanics (and astronomy) to address scientific objections to the Copernican model.

Why do objects move?

Scientists and philosophers alike have been trying to answer this question even before
300 B.C. One of the well-known philosophers who attempted to do this was Aristotle. His
attempt was based on inductive-deductive reasoning and was accepted for centuries.

However, Galileo Galilei challenged the Aristotelian view of motion when he had his
actual and thorough experiments. He disagreed with most of Aristotle’s claims and provided his
own description of motion.

Galilean Conceptions vs. Aristotelian Conceptions

According to Aristotle, motion can be either natural or violent motion. In a natural
motion, the object will move and will return to its natural state based on the object's material or
composition. In contrast, an object moving in a violent motion requires an external force (push or
pull) for the object to move.

He also had his view on the projectile motion of an object. He believed that an object
thrown at a certain angle is given an impetus—a force or energy that permits an object to move.
It will continue to move in such state until the object’s impetus is lost, and the object returns to
its natural state, causing it to stop and fall to the ground.

Galileo disproved Aristotle’s claims and believed that the motion of objects is not simply
due to the composition of objects. He mentioned that motion can be described by mathematics
and the changes in some physical variables such as time and distance. Using his actual and
thorough experiments, he was able to prove that:
  an object in uniform motion will travel a distance that is proportional to the time it will
take to travel;

 a uniformly accelerating object will travel at a speed proportional to some factor of time;
and

 an object in motion, if unimpeded, will continue to be in motion; an external force is not

necessary to maintain the motion.

Galileo's Conceptions of Motion

Horizontal motion
An object in motion, if unimpeded, will continue to be in motion, and an external force is
not necessary to maintain the motion. If the Earth’s surface is very flat and extended infinitely,
objects that are pushed will not be impeded. Thus, the objects will continue to move. This kind
of motion, however, is not evident in nature. For example, if a ball is pushed on an infinitely flat
plane, the ball will continue to roll if unimpeded.

Vertical motion
In the absence of a resistance, objects would fall not depending on their weight, but in the
time of fall. Also, if the object encountered a resistive force from a fluid equal or greater than its
weight, it will slow down and reaches a uniform motion until it reaches the bottom and stops. For
example, without any resistance, a 1-kg object will be as fast as a 10-kg object when falling
because they fall with the same amount of time, given that they are released from the same
height. Also, a stone dropped in the ocean will sooner or later travel at constant speed.
Projectile motion
Galileo believed that a projectile is a combination of uniform motion in the horizontal
direction and uniformly accelerated motion in the vertical direction. If it is not impeded, it will
continue to move even without an applied force. For example, when you shoot a ball in a
basketball ring, the ball does not need a force to keep it moving.

Explore!
In a vacuum chamber, a 1-kg object and 10-kg object was dropped at a certain height and
at the same time. Which of the following objects will reach the ground first?

Try it!
 Who has a more acceptable view of falling objects, Aristotle or Galileo? Try to test it in
the following activities below. Take note that in every activity, both objects should be dropped at
the same time and at the same height.
A. Drop a book and a flat sheet of paper coming.
B. Drop a book and a sheet of paper crumbled to a ball.
C. Drop a book with a small flat sheet of paper on top of it.
In all three cases, which object reach the ground first? Whose view is more acceptable
then, and why?

Key Points
 Galileo believed that an object in uniform motion will travel a distance that is
proportional to the time it took to travel; a uniformly accelerating object will travel with a
speed proportional to some factor of time; and an object in motion, if unimpeded, will
continue to be in motion; an external force is not necessary to maintain the motion.
 Galileo believed that a projectile is a combination of uniform motion in the horizontal
direction and uniformly accelerated motion in the vertical direction.

7.3 How Galileo Inferred That Objects in

Vacuum Fall with Uniform Acceleration
Objective
At the end of the lesson, you will be able to explain how Galileo inferred that objects in
vacuum fall with uniform acceleration.

Recall that a body moving with uniform acceleration changes its speed by a constant
value per unit of time.

Imagine yourself holding a bowling ball and a ping pong ball. If you drop these balls
simultaneously, which ball do you think would have greater acceleration upon reaching the
ground? Why?

Galileo proved with his experiments that when objects are dropped simultaneously, they
will reach the ground at the same time regardless of their masses and air resistance. In another set
of experiments, he discovered that objects fall with uniform acceleration.
Galileo was fascinated by the behavior of falling objects. He knew that falling objects
increase their speed as they go down. This change in speed is acceleration. However, he did not
have any equipment to measure this change, so he used inclined planes to lessen the acceleration
of the moving bodies. He was then able to investigate the moving bodies carefully.
On his experiment, he had observed the following:
 A ball rolling down an inclined plane increases its speed by the same value after every
second. For example, the speed of a rolling ball was found to increase by 2 m/s every
second. This means that the rolling ball would have the following speeds for every given
second.
  As the inclined plane becomes steeper, the acceleration of the rolling ball increases.
 The maximum acceleration of the rolling ball was reached when the inclined plane was
positioned vertically as if the ball is simply falling

These observations lead Galileo to conclude that regardless of the mass of objects and air
resistance, falling objects would always have uniform acceleration.
Example
Hold a book and a piece of paper at the same height, then drop them simultaneously. Did
the objects reach the ground at the same time? If no, which object reached the ground first?
Now, perform the same procedure, but this time, crumple the paper. Did the objects reach
the ground at the same time? If no, which object reached the ground first?
This experiment agrees with Galileo’s findings that when there is little or no air
resistance, objects that are dropped simultaneously will reach the ground at the same time,
regardless of their masses. Given that both objects (paper and book) reached the ground
simultaneously, we can infer that the increase in speed of each object is equal. Therefore, falling
objects have the same acceleration when there is no air resistance (e.g. vacuum).
Recall the question at the start of this lesson regarding the bowling and ping pong balls.
When these balls are thrown from the same height and in a vacuum, they will fall at the same
acceleration regardless of their masses.

Explore
Given two one peso coins, released at the same time, Coin A is dropped while Coin B is
thrown horizontally coming from the same height. Which one do you think would reach the
ground first?

What do you think?

If a speedometer is attached to a falling object and the reading increases by 10 m/s every
second, what is the object’s acceleration?

Key Points
 A body with uniform acceleration changes its speed by a constant value.
 Galileo proved that when objects are released simultaneously from a certain height, they
reach the ground at the same time, regardless of their masses and air resistance.
 Galileo discovered that all objects fall with the uniform acceleration in vacuum.