Falling Bodies: the Obvious,the Subtle, and the Wrong

Details Falling Bodies: the Obvious,the Subtle, and the Wrong Falling Bodies: the Obvious,the Subtle, and the Wrong

2007-02-19

arxiv.org/abs/physics/0702155v5

IEEE Power Engineering Review 10, 27-31 (April,1990)

Physics

General Physics

In the 3-body rectilinear problem, an interesting comparison is made between a purely center of mass consideration without int

Scientific paper

An important scientific debate took place regarding falling bodies hundreds of years ago, and it still warrants introspection. Galileo argued that in a vacuum all bodies fall at the same rate relative to the earth, independent of their mass. Aristotle seemed to consider all media to be viscous, and argued that heavier bodies fall faster. Aristotle was challenged by Philoponus, who argued that light and heavy weights fall about equally fast in air, eleven hundred years before Galileo. As we shall see, the problem is more subtle than meets the eye -- even in a frictionless medium. Philoponus and Galileo are right part of the time, and Aristotle is partly right some of the time. In fact they are all wrong the rest of the time, with the lightest body falling fastest when two bodies fall toward the earth. In principle the results of a free fall experiment depend on whether falling masses originate on earth, are extraterrestrial, are sequential or concurrent, or are simultaneous for coincident or separated bodies, etc. When single falling bodies originate from the earth, all bodies (light and heavy) fall at the same rate relative to the earth in agreement with Galileo's view. Einstein's General Relativity (EGR), in which gravity is due to space-time curvature, was motivated by the Galilean notion that free-fall is independent of the mass and properties of a falling body, and is just due to the properties of the milieu it finds itself in. Quantum mechanics is found to violate the Equivalence Principle of EGR.

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