State the laws of freely falling bodies and describe Newton's 'guinea and feather' experiment. What is the inference drawn from the experiment?

Short Answer

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Answer: Newton's 'guinea and feather' experiment demonstrated that, without the influence of air resistance, objects of different mass fall at the same rate, supporting the laws of freely falling bodies. The inference drawn from the experiment is that in the absence of air resistance, all objects fall with the same constant acceleration due to gravity, regardless of their mass.

Step by step solution

01

State the laws of freely falling bodies

The laws of freely falling bodies can be summarized as follows: 1. In the absence of air resistance, all bodies, regardless of their mass, will fall freely near the Earth's surface with a constant acceleration due to gravity (g). 2. The velocity of a freely falling body increases uniformly with time, as its motion is influenced only by the force of gravity, which is a constant force acting downward. 3. The distance fallen by a freely falling body is proportional to the square of the time elapsed since it started falling. Mathematically, these laws can be represented using the following equations of motion: 1. v = u + g*t, where v is the final velocity, u is the initial velocity, g is the acceleration due to gravity, and t is the time. 2. s = ut + (1/2)gt^2, where s is the distance fallen.
02

Describe Newton's 'guinea and feather' experiment

In Newton's 'guinea and feather' experiment, he took a glass tube about four feet long and placed two objects inside it. One of the objects was a heavy gold guinea coin, and the other was a lightweight feather. After sealing the tube and evacuating the air from inside, he dropped the glass tube and observed the motion of the two objects within. He noticed that both the guinea and the feather fell downwards at the same rate, reaching the bottom of the tube at the same time. This experiment demonstrated that without the influence of air resistance, objects of different mass fall at the same rate, supporting the laws of freely falling bodies.
03

Provide the inference drawn from the experiment

The inference drawn from Newton's 'guinea and feather' experiment is that in the absence of air resistance, all objects fall with the same constant acceleration due to gravity, regardless of their mass. This experimental result supports Galileo's previously proposed idea that objects fall at the same rate, regardless of mass, and ultimately served as the foundation for Newton's laws of motion and universal law of gravitation.

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