Galileo Galilei, professor of mathematics at the University of
Padua in Italy, conducted experiments, e.g. throwing objects off
the tower of Pisa in 1590 to show that all, whether light or
heavy, fall at the same rate. This disproved the widely held
theory that heavier objects fall faster than light objects. He
proved that the force of gravity has the same effect on all
objects regardless of their size or weight. His law stated that
the speed of their descent increases uniformly with the time of
the fall, i.e. speed = gravity times time. Galileo determined that
a pendulum, such as a hanging lamp, swings back and forth in equal
intervals of time. For this he measured time with water running
out of a vessel. Also, the rate of oscillation varies inversely as
the square of their cord length, regardless of material or weight.
From his observation that an object sliding along a plane slows
down at a decreasing rate and travels increasingly farther as the
surfaces become smoother and more lubricated, he opined that the
natural state of a body in motion is to stay in motion, and that
it is slowed down by a force: friction. He conceived of the air
offering a resistant force to an object in motion. He expanded on
Aristotle's idea of an object in a state of rest or of uniform
motion in a straight line, so that the former is just a special
case of the latter. He opined that bodies at rest stay at rest and
bodies in motion stay in uniform motion, unless and until acted
upon by some force.
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