GALILEO’s EXPERIMENTS

EXPERIMENT 1:

It was observed by Galileo that when a ball is rolled down on an inclined plane it speed increases, whereas if it is rolled up an inclined plane its speed decreases. If it is rolled on a horizontal plane the result must be between the cases described above i.e. the speed should remain constant. If can be explain as -

moving down : speed increase    moving up : speed decreases    moving horizontal : speed constant

EXPERIMENTS 2:

When a ball sin released on the inner surface of a smooth hemisphere, it will move to the other side and reach the same height before coming to rest momentarily. If the hemisphere is replaced by a surface shown in figure (b) in order to reach the same height ht ball will have to move a larger distance.

(a)     (b) (c)

if the other side is made horizontal, the ball will never stop because it will never be able to reach the same height, it means its speeds will not decrease. It will have uniform velocity on the horizontal surface. Thus, if unbalances forced do not act on a body, the body will either remain at rest or will move with a uniform velocity. It will remain uncelebrated.

Conclusion of Galileo’s Experiments :

• A body is at rest and no unbalanced forced acts on it, remains at rest.
• A body is moving and no unbalance force acts on it, it will continue to move at   constant speed in a fixed direction.
• If unbalance forces act on a body the body will accelerated. The idea was suggested by Galileo and was later formulated into laws by Newton.

Also Check

• Newton's Law of Forces
• Impulses of Force