Chapter Project One

Galileo did a series of experiments to show that all bodies accelerate toward the earth and
that they all accelerate in the same way. He also showed that in the absence of friction,
bodies would keep moving forever. In effect, he achieved a partial understanding of
gravity, and he discovered the concepts of acceleration and inertia. Galileo (and Newton
after him) showed that the acceleration of gravity is a constant for all objects at the
surface of the Earth, which means that the velocity of a falling object increases
continuously. Galileo reached the conclusion that bodies fall on the surface of the earth at
a constant acceleration, and that the force of gravity which causes all bodies to move
downward is a constant force. In other words, a constant force does not lead to constant
speed but to constant acceleration. The law of inertia states that it is the tendency of an
object to resist a change in motion. According to Newton, an object will stay at rest or
stay in motion unless acted on by a net external force. Inertia by historians of science, is
a precursor to, but distinct from, Newton's notion of rectilinear motion. For Galileo, a
motion is 'horizontal' if it does not carry the moving body towards or away from the
center of the earth. Galileo stated that, in the absence of a force, a moving object will
continue moving. The tendency of objects to resist changes in motion was what Galileo
called inertia. This insight was refined by Newton, who made it into his first law, also
known as the "law of inertia"no force means no acceleration, and hence the body will
maintain its velocity. As Newton's first law is a restatement of the law of inertia which
Galileo had already described, Newton appropriately gave credit to Galileo

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