Related papers: Aristotle, projectiles and guns
In the 14th century the French thinker John Buridan developed a theory of motion that bears a strong resemblance to Newtonian momentum. Buridan's ideas include a quantity of motion which is determined by an object's mass, speed, and…
A classic problem of the motion of a projectile thrown at an angle to the horizon is studied. Air resistance force is taken into account with the use of the quadratic resistance law. The projectile motion is described analytically with…
Throughout the early history of Science the heliocentric world model was refused because it contradicted the thoughts of Aristotle and the medieval "Impetus" theory of movement. Even Galileo's sky observations did not lead to any acceptance…
Aristotle has split physics at the sphere of the moon; above this sphere there is no change except eternal spherical motion, below are two different kinds of motion: Natural motion (without specific cause) and enforced motion. In modern…
A classic problem of the motion of a projectile thrown at an angle to the horizon is studied. Air resistance force is taken into account with the use of the quadratic resistance law. The action of the wind is also taken into account, which…
I show that Aristotelian physics is a correct and non-intuitive approximation of Newtonian physics in the suitable domain (motion in fluids), in the same technical sense in which Newton theory is an approximation of Einstein's theory.…
A classic problem of the motion of a projectile thrown at an angle to the horizon in a medium with a quadratic resistance law is studied. An approximate analytical solution of the equations of projectile motion is presented, which has a…
An important scientific debate took place regarding falling bodies hundreds of years ago, and it still warrants introspection. Galileo argued that in a vacuum all bodies fall at the same rate relative to the earth, independent of their…
According to Aristotle "time is the number of change with respect to the before and after". That's certainly a vague concept, but at the same time it's both simple and satisfying from a philosophical point of view: things do not change…
Plutarchus, circa 100 AD, in his early book on "astrophysics" --in which he exposed, in a sense, a general theory of gravitation-- wrote the noticeable passage: <<The Moon gets the guarantee of not falling down just from its motion and from…
The Italian astronomer Giovanni Battista Riccioli is commonly credited with performing the first precise experiments to determine the acceleration of a freely falling body. Riccioli has been discussed by historians of science, sometimes…
In his encyclopedic work on astronomy, the 1651 Almagestum Novum, the Italian Jesuit Giovanni Battista Riccioli (1598-1671) argued against the movement of the Earth on the grounds that (among other things), if the Earth rotated, that…
Projectile motion is a constant theme in introductory-physics courses. It is often used to illustrate the application of differential and integral calculus. While most of the problems used for this purpose, such as maximizing the range, are…
A new explanation for space contraction and time dilation in special relativity is offered based on kinetic energy differences between observers rather than velocity differences. The classical (Newtonian) concept of projectile motion…
Claude Francis Milliet Dechales described the Coriolis effect in his 1674 Cursus seu Mundus Mathematicus. Dechales discussed and illustrated the deflection of both falling bodies and of projectiles launched toward the poles that should…
The trial and condemnation of Giordano Bruno was mainly based on arguments of philosophical and theological nature, and therefore different from Galilei's. Such elements contribute to unfairly devalue the scientific contribution of Bruno…
This article serves as a pedagogical introduction to the problem of motion in classical field theories. The primary focus is on self-interaction: How does an object's own field affect its motion? General laws governing the self-force and…
What can physics students learn about science from those scientists who got the answers wrong? Students encounter little science history, and what they have encountered typically portrays scientists as The People with the Right Answers. But…
The article presents a proposal to contextualize the study of movement in first courses of university physics, as a contribution to decision-making in situations of a social nature. For this, the case of the use of kinetic impact…
The principle that celestial bodies must move on circular orbits or on paths resulting from the composition of circular orbits has been assumed as a constant guide in the astronomical thougth of the peoples facing the Mediterranean sea as…