Re: how did galileo know...


"John Zinni" <j_zinni.NOCRAP@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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| "Androcles" <Androcles@ MyPlace.org> wrote in message
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| >
| > "John Zinni" <j_zinni.NOCRAP@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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| > | "Androcles" <Androcles@ MyPlace.org> wrote in message
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| > | >
| > | > "John Zinni" <j_zinni.NOCRAP@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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| > | > | "francisco" <paco1955@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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| > | > | > how did galileo know that the pendulum swings at the same
| > frequency
| > | > | > regardless of the amplitude?
| > | > | >
| > | > | > note: since pendulum were crucial to the building of the
first
| > | > clocks,
| > | > | > galileo couldn't have used a clock to find the answer.
| > | > |
| > | > | He could compare two or more pendulums of equal length but
| > different
| > | > | amplitude.
| > | > |
| > | > Good Grief! Why don't you guess the answer instead of finding
out?
| > | >
| > | > In the 1600's everyone went to church, including Galileo
Galilei.
| > | > This filled the churches.
| > | > The people stank, and incense was burned to mask the odour.
| > | >
| > | >
| > | > Etymology: Middle English encens, from Old French, from Late
Latin
| > | > incensum, from Latin, neuter of incensus, past participle of
| > incendere
| > | > to set on fire, from in- + -cendere to burn; akin to Latin
candEre
| > to
| > | > glow -- more at CANDID
| > | > 1 : material used to produce a fragrant odor when burned
| > | > 2 : the perfume exhaled from some spices and gums when burned;
| > broadly :
| > | > a pleasing scent
| > | >
| > | > To distribute the pong of burning incense, the incense pot was
hung
| > | > from the church roof by a long rope or chain and swung back and
| > forth.
| > | >
| > | > Galileo, intelligent, sitting in church and bored with the
| > repetitive
| > | > proceedings, timed the swing of the pot by counting his own
pulse.
| > |
| > | I seriously doubt that Galileo conducted all of his pendulum
| > experiments
| > | while bored out of his skull sitting in church.
| >
| > You can seriously doubt all you want, but it was the biggest
pendulum
| > handy. Churches were the largest buildings around in the 17th
century,
| > topped only by cathedrals and the Coliseum which didn't have a roof
| > to hang a pendulum from.
|
| And this is relevant why??? You don't need the largest building around
to
| conduct a few simple pendulum experiments.

You do if you don't have a watch with a second hand on it.



| "Time measurement was a major issue in many of Galileo's experiments.
For
| his pendulum experiments, Galileo seems to have compared the pendulums
in
| pairs over the same time. For example, a person would be assigned to
each
| pendulum of the pair and between the words "start" and "stop" each
person
| would count the number of oscillations. This method was used for
comparison
| in these experiments."
|
http://galileo.rice.edu/lib/student_work/experiment95/galileo_pendulum.html

That came later, when he wanted to refine his initial discovery.

|
|
| > Slow pulse, no pocket watch, he needed a
| > long swing to time as best he could.
| > What do you think he used, a car tyre on a rope hanging from a tree
| > with a kid swinging on it?
| >
| > Androcles
| >
| >
| >
|
|

.