Galileo and the Falling Bodies

Does a bowling ball fall faster than a feather? Aristotle said yes. It took 2,000 years and a trip to the Moon to settle it.

Galileo overturned Aristotle's rule that heavy things fall faster with a thought experiment about two tied stones. Drop a ball and a feather yourself, on Earth and on the Moon, and see why they land together.

Steps

1. What Aristotle Said
2. The Two Stones
3. Drop Test
4. Rolling Downhill
5. The Moon, 1971
6. Why It Mattered