A critique of one of Galileo's mental experiments and an explanation on why bodies fall with equal acceleration through the vacuum

Fuente: arXiv
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1. Verfasser: Levinas, Leonardo
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2023
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author Levinas, Leonardo
author_facet Levinas, Leonardo
contents In the famous thought experiment studied in this article, Galileo attempted to refute the Aristotelian hypothesis that heavier bodies should fall more quickly than lighter ones. After pointing out some inconsistencies in Galileo's approach, we show, through the design of two alternative but equivalent experiments, that from his imaginary experiment, it is not possible to reach the conclusion that all bodies fall simultaneously. We show why, to explain the result of this type of experience, it is necessary to establish the equivalence between inertial and gravitational masses derived exclusively from experience.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2304_06860
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A critique of one of Galileo's mental experiments and an explanation on why bodies fall with equal acceleration through the vacuum
Levinas, Leonardo
History and Philosophy of Physics
In the famous thought experiment studied in this article, Galileo attempted to refute the Aristotelian hypothesis that heavier bodies should fall more quickly than lighter ones. After pointing out some inconsistencies in Galileo's approach, we show, through the design of two alternative but equivalent experiments, that from his imaginary experiment, it is not possible to reach the conclusion that all bodies fall simultaneously. We show why, to explain the result of this type of experience, it is necessary to establish the equivalence between inertial and gravitational masses derived exclusively from experience.
title A critique of one of Galileo's mental experiments and an explanation on why bodies fall with equal acceleration through the vacuum
topic History and Philosophy of Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2304.06860