Law of falling bodies and the inclined plane
Ley de la caída de los cuerpos y plano inclinado
- Date
- 1604-1638 · confidence high
- Place
- Padua, Italy
- Credited to
- Galileo Galilei
- People
- 👤 Galileo Galilei1564–1642
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
All bodies fall with the same acceleration in a vacuum, and the distance covered grows with the square of the time; Galileo measures this by diluting gravity on inclined planes. It establishes mathematical kinematics and quantitative experiment.
The drop from the Tower of Pisa is probably legendary; the definitive account is in the 'Discorsi' (Leiden, 1638).
What it led to
- Mathematical kinematics (uniformly accelerated motion)
- Parabolic trajectory of projectiles
- Newton's second law and gravitation
- Equivalence principle (general relativity)
Built on
- Oxford Calculators (mean speed theorem)
- Oresme and Benedetti
- Rejection of Aristotelian physics
Made possible
- Square-cube law1638
- Pendulum clock1656
- Scientific ballistics
- Free-fall experiments in a vacuum