Who’s theory was correct? Aristotle or Galileo?

Thursday 01 December 2022

In this week’s science learning, we conducted a fair test.

Does the mass of an object affect the rate in which it falls?

Aristotle’s theory suggests that the mass of an object does affect the rate in which it falls and that heavier objects fall quicker!

However, in 1590, Galileo tested this theory by, according to legend, dropping two cannonballs of similar size but different masses off the Leaning Tower of Pisa and seeing when they hit the ground.

This week, we conducted a similar test.

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We tested out Aristotle’s theory by dropping different objects of similar size but different masses and recorded their time of impact with the ground.

We found that mass doesn’t affect the rate in which objects fall. The slight difference in time is due to forces like air resistance.

Great learning, Y6!