Amazon Quiz: Which famous renaissance physicist experimented on this location?

Nicolaus Copernicus

Johannes Kepler

Galileo Galilei

Luca Pacioli

Answer: Galileo Galilei

Aristotle’s theory of gravity stated that objects fall at a speed proportional to their mass, which means the heavier object is, the faster it will fall under gravity. A heavier object accelerates greater under gravity was believed to be true in Aristotle’s Time till Galileo conducted an experiment that rejected Aristotle’s assertion.

In 1589, the Italian scientist Galileo dropped two balls of different masses from the Leaning Tower of Pisa to demonstrate that their time of descent was independent of their mass. With this method, he supposedly discovered that the objects fell at the same acceleration independent of their masses. This was contrary to what Aristotle had taught: that heavy objects fall faster than lighter ones, in direct proportion to weight.

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While this story has been mentioned in the popular account, there is no account by Galileo himself of such an experiment, and it is accepted by most historians that it was a thought experiment that did not actually take place.

Whether the experiment is conducted in real or not, the thought experiment actually proves that objects would fall with the same acceleration under gravity, independent of their masses.