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Chapter 04

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54 views5 pages

Chapter 04

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lollo bragonzi
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The Physics of Galileo ‘pong fm te epond. Although Galileo Gaile (1564-1642) was contemporary of Johannes Kepler the two Scents seldom communicated with eachother and had Tite in common, eventhough they were most responsible fr laying the scientific foundation tat made posible Isaac Newon's contributions the study of mechanic. Galileo Was perhaps not stented a mathemat ‘an as Kepler, but his professional interes were more diverse, and be ‘made unparalled use of experiments to ilistate physical phenomena, ‘ch the acceleration of fiely fling bodies. Moreover, Gallo was an innovative eraftaman who could construct devices such 3k greatly im proved telescopes, which made possible a number of important asto- fomical discoveries and greatly extended the boundaries ofthe observable “The son of «Florentine merchant, Galileo was bor thee days before the death of Michelangelo ats time when sence wa in ts infancy and scholarly ingiry was weighed down by the heavy hand of the papal ‘dogmists Galileo's father saw no reason not to encourage the free ‘exchange of ideas and dovbless sted his enthusiasm for unfetered ‘debate in say discipline down this son. Young Galileo received his early tducation a the monastery of Vollombosa near Ferece ad then toed ‘mathematics atthe Unversity’ of Pisa. After working asa lecturer at the Florentine Academy, Galileo began teaching mathematics atthe Univer sity of Pisa in 1592, The 18 years Galileo spent onthe faculty at Pisa were the most productive period of his life. He conducted a number of expe ‘ments that demonstrated the shortcomings of Arsiceian physics, such as the belie thatthe continous motion of body was possible only if it remained in contact with the propeling force. Galileo's studies of me ‘Shanice showed that a body does ot come to a halt when the force ‘roplling ts renoved, but instead decelerates at a ale dependent on the “mount officio encounters this conclusion ld im vty lose the ‘concept of inertia. Galileo also argued that all objects would fall at the same rt if tere were no atmorphei rtion, Although legend has it that Galileo deogped objects of different weighs fom the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa 0 disprove Aristotle's contention thatthe heavier ‘object would reach the ground fit there is no record that be actually conducted such experiments ‘Among Galleo's scientific discoveries are the isochronism of the pendulum, the hydrostatic balance, the principles of dynamics, the pro Portonal comple andthe themmometer." He also made many improve ‘ments in the tekscope and established himself as peedess celestial investigator with his observations ofthe surface ofthe moon, the moons fof Jupiter, and the phases of Venus, His careful study of the rugged landscape of the moon, however, fest caused Galileo to run afoul of religious orthodoxy. Through his telescope, be saw what appeared t0 be “rk seas and bright Iands, oceans and continents, mountain peaks swelling in the morning light, valleys lapsed in shadow."= The obviows ‘Silay to the geography ofthe earth was no ston Galileo, and he did hot hesitate to spect thatthe earth and moon consisted of the same Imater. This conclusion was dangerous Because te earth was thought 0 ‘ecupy a central place inthe universe and therfore robe made of sub Stances not found elsewhere. His preference forthe heliocentric cos ‘mology of Copemicus and his suspicion thatthe earth i minor planet in the solar system convinced Galileo thatthe orthodox hierarchial view of the universe was wrong “That Galileo's doubs about Aristotelian philosophy represented 2 challenge tothe intelectual integrity ofthe Church was not ost on those ‘churchmen familar with Galileo's opinions. The Church self was not inclined tobe particularly tolerant of dissenting views, since it faced the threat of he Protestant Reformation; indeed, foo much reedom of thought ‘was thought by many to have contributed tothe schism. Consequently the ‘Church dared ot permit any farter challenges to its doctrines. Galileo ‘vas aware ofthis tite, and his enthusiasm for the Copernican sytem tras tempered by his belie that the open advocacy of heioceatiity ‘would invite punishment from the religious establishment, as shown by bis 1597 letter to Johanaes Kepler: for yea hun i a arent tthe Capea view which ean to tne the Cues of any natal penomens Qt Fema wel ieee ‘iin mts ofthe commen aeped hypothe. To ove ths Iter Ive cmped nares arguments Bat Tare nt bt he oe ih | canton rer ety ate eco at or mater Cope who “ihooch inte esr of neh fae has como be srl tan “pine of inl many force he mbes off) a an aj | ‘cl od desion™ Galileo’ reticence was further encouraged by the burning atthe stake of Giordano Bruno in 160 fr beresy, Bruno's death inthe Campo Dei Firs in Rome had ben preceded by sk years of imprisonment by Inquisition tutors: his death came with his refusal to recat his philosophical opinions, which centered around his elie thatthe universe infinite and hasan infinite number of worlds. The absence ofa cosmic center aswell {asthe multiplicity of worlds in Bruno's universe posed ect challenges to the geocentric theory: Bruno's unbending advocacy of these bls pemous opinions sealed his fate. One imporant difference between Bruno and Galileo, however, was tat the forme had constructed 8 co mology that conficied directly with the picture ofthe word oTered bythe Bible, while te later was not prepared to interpret the con-asions of CCopericu's ther in an anti-Christian manner: ol of Gal's ie be was conve at he concep toe an ed moving ext war comply cnet with he Bi, enl he Bae Sess. cn a a ye Sse bat al wa the et eps ofthat pp of slit who had no iit cone Scene wi pose sperma nerenon* Galileo's religious beliefs didnot dissuade him from arguing forthe Copernican teor, but his effort to sidestep Church objections filed, and he was censured by the Holy Office in 1616, He was ordered not 19 hold, teach, of defend the heliocentric done. As Galileo was 4 more practical man than Giordano Bruno had been and saw lite personal ‘vantage tobe gained by martyrdom athe stake, he agreed to abide by the terms ofthe sensure action. Galileo published nothing. uni 162 ‘whea hs fiend Cardinal Bererni Became Pope Urban VII. Urban ws thought by Galileo to bea supporter of the as and sciences, and while he ‘could not reverse the antibelocentric decision, Urtan "did no forbid discussion of the theory as a speculative hypothesis," When Galileo published his Dilpgues Concerning she Two Chief World Systems in 1632 In suppor of the cyndemned theory, he dedicated ito Urban and prefaced, the work with a lng statement about his devotion to the Chueh “Although Galileo had hitherto been careful opresent the Copernican theory only a a possible alternative to accepted decrne, hs preference was made clear in his Dialogues. Galileo had many enemies inthe pa acy. Fearful of te continued erosion of Aristotelian philosophy, they onvince the Holy Office that Galileo hid nt aided by the terms of hie 1616 censure, Asa result, Gallo was ondeed by the Holy Office in 1632 to go to Rome to face the Inuisition, He arived there in February 1633 and was examined four months later on charges that the publication of his Dialogues had vilated the 1616 decre. Galileo was found guilty of the charges an sentenced to jal: he was forced to kel and recat his bli thatthe earth moses around the sun, Iie alleged that Galileo muted, "E pur si muove™ ("Yet it does move") unde his breath even a he was promising not to challenge the geocentric doctrine, Galle was allowed to return to his villa n Florence, but be emsined under house ares for the Tas eight years of his life. AKhough he had no choice but wo retain from further publi controversy, he did continue hi cient experiments du ‘ng that ime and managed to smuggle uta copy of his Dialogues so that it could be warsated ito Latin, ‘As noted above, Galileo played pivotal oe in helping o anchor the infant scenes ina bedrock of experiments and observations while purging itof ide philosophical speculations, especially in the field of mechani. ‘The sience of mechanics grew out ofthe study of motion, which was ‘developed in twa steps kinematics and djnamics. Kinematics deals with the motions of bodies without inguzing into the cases of such maions, ‘dynamics deals wit force asthe ease of changes inthe state of motion of ‘by. Mechanics wa thus not fully developed unl Newton propounded, histhrce laws of motion, without which dynamics could not have evolved, tut Galileo had sleady established kinematics asa scence. The study of ‘mechanics stemmed from the need to understand sich practical phe ‘nomen asthe fight of projectiles (fr example, arrows, bullets, canton bulls), the propulsion of vehicles, tbe movements of animal, and the Right of bids. Leonardo da Vinci had tied mechanics intensely, for he ‘considered i the wortiest ofall seiences and one that vas amenable to ‘mathematical formulation and testing. tis not supesing, then, that Ga lileo. da Vines intellectual descendant, concemed himself more with mechanics than with any other phase of phsis. He et intuitively that, tnt he nature of motion Was thoroughly understood, mechanics could rot be mastered "Very litle progress had been made inthe sty of motion since the time of Aristo, who had intodoced what appears to be avery reason tbl dea tha bodies move ony Because they are being pushed or pulled by some kind of force, This was generally accepted as a comes Statement ‘because people knew fiom direct experince that objects on the ground moved only if hey were pushed or pled; physica effort was needed to keep an object moving, Ths Aristotelian concept led to severe ficulties ine stady ofthe motions of the planes, for they appeared to move ‘without being pled or pushed, The scholasics an theologians “solved” this problem by simply assigning to each planet an angel who Kept that, planet moving in ts appointed celestial ori. But opposition to this con opt wae faking hoi, as first expressed bythe “impetus,” who, fol lowing William of Ockham, declared that God pave each celestial orb an impetis that has kee going since. This was ths an easy way out ofthe dilemma without offending the Church, but added nothing othe undet- standing of mation. Mechanics hobbled along without progressing beyond the discusion stage until Galileo began o subject it to experiment tests ‘nd 0 formulate a mathematical theory of motion, ‘ier Johanes Kepler, Galileo Was the second great sciemist who saw the importne of mathematics inthe development of the principles ‘nd laws of ature e set himself the tsk of applying mathematics the Investigation of physical phenomena, arguing that any such phenomena. lnvolving measunble qualities could be formulated mathematically. He ‘went beyond this idea, however, and pointed out tht the mathematical formulation of problem permed one to deduce results, by means of ‘mathemutical manipulations, that are not diel observable inthe pe ‘nomena themselves This, of course, the bass of most siete dissov ‘is today (sit has been fom the ime of Newton) Galileo first appli his mathematical skills to the problem of sal- 7, which is used extensively in ll branches of engineering and science today. He note tat the dimension ofthe suppots fr example, the eas fof an elephant) of two similar strates (strotures that have the same ‘chemical compostion and density) donot scale dimensionally in he same ‘way as the two stuctres themselves. Thus, ifthe size of the larger "Hructure is 5 times tat of the smaller one, the thicknesses ofthe supports ofthe larger one must be more than 5 tines those of the smaller one. The ‘eason is thatthe weight of stature increases ais volume and hence 38, the eube of its height (hus by a multiple of 125 in the S-fld height increase). In contrast, the suppor strength depends only on the crose setional area ofthe supports and hence Inceases asthe squae of their high (thus by a multiple of 25). Thus, the stength of the supports is

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