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Galileo is said to have dropped two objects of different masses from the Tower o

ID: 1329474 • Letter: G

Question

Galileo is said to have dropped two objects of different masses from the Tower of Pisa. He measured how long it took each to reach the ground. Since stopwatches weren’t readily available, how do you think he measured their fall time? If the objects were the same size, but with different masses, what do you think he should have observed? Would this result be different if done on the Moon? Galileo is said to have dropped two objects of different masses from the Tower of Pisa. He measured how long it took each to reach the ground. Since stopwatches weren’t readily available, how do you think he measured their fall time? If the objects were the same size, but with different masses, what do you think he should have observed? Would this result be different if done on the Moon? Galileo is said to have dropped two objects of different masses from the Tower of Pisa. He measured how long it took each to reach the ground. Since stopwatches weren’t readily available, how do you think he measured their fall time? If the objects were the same size, but with different masses, what do you think he should have observed? Would this result be different if done on the Moon?

Explanation / Answer

If two objects of different masses are dropped (at the same time) from some height, they will reach the

ground at the same time because the acceleration of gravity is the same for both objects. I think the

observation is that both objects reach the ground at the same instant. I believe Galileo measured

time by using a pendulum.

The result will be the same both objects will reach the ground at the same time.

Finally, we can answer the last question, the result will be the same both objects will fall with the same

acceleration therefore they will reach the ground at the same time, although the acceleration of gravity on

the moon is smaller than the acceleration of gravity on earth.