Activity 03: Intellectual Revolutions that Defined Society: Copernicus

A. Complete a table like the one below by writing five ancient beliefs/practices in
Astronomy, and their modern-day theory or explanation. An italized example is
provided below. (10 points)

Ancient Beliefs and Practices in

Modern-Day Theory or Explanation
Astronomy
All planets, including Earth, revolves around
E.g. Planets revolve around the Earth
the sun
1. Aristotle believed that the planets and Earth’s shape is not a perfect sphere, it is an
stars were perfect spheres irregularly shaped ellipsoid

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2. Brahe proposed a geo-heliocentric

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system where the Sun and Moon orbited All planets revolved around the Sun including

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the Earth, while the other planets orbited Earth, and the Moon goes around the Earth
the Sun

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3. If Earth were moving, birds, clouds, etc.,
Newton’s first law of motion, an object will not
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change its motion unless acted on by an
would fall off as Earth moved
unbalanced force
There is still a parallax effect there, but it is
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4. If Earth orbits, parallax should have been very small since the stars are so faraway that
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observed their parallax can only be observed with a

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very precise instrument

Celestial Sphere is a fictitious sphere
5. The stars are located on the Celestial
centered on the Earth upon which all celestial
Sphere
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bodies can be projected

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B. Choose ONE of the questions below within 100-150 words. Please do not forget
to COPY the question you have chosen. (5 points)
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What were the hurdles of the early beginnings of heliocentrism?

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The main hurdles of the heliocentric model of Copernicus are that the
Catholic Church is opposed to teaching heliocentrism because it was contrary to
the science of the time. In the past, the Catholic Church is a traditional authority
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for beliefs about the universe's structure. Also, ideas upheld by the church are
accepted authority for the European intellectuals. According to the story, early
astronomers like Copernicus and Galileo proved that the earth rotates around the
sun, and other scientists agreed to this. However, the Catholic Church clung to
the literal interpretation of the Bible and rejected the idea due to fanatical faith,

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 and still insist that the Earth had to be the center of the universe because a man
was the pinnacle of all creation.

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