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Galileo's Battle for the Heavens

His Experiments

 

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Falling Objects | Projectiles | Inclined Planes | Pendulums

Boat diagram: side view of a sailboat with a ball that has fallen to the boat’s deck; a dotted line traces out its path relative to the mast

Thought Experiment

Think of a sailboat cruising along at a nice clip. Now imagine that you're at the top of the mast holding a ball. You let go of the ball. What happens?

The ball falls straight down along the mast, at the rate that all objects fall, neither faster nor slower than if the boat were standing still.







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