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June 19, 2015

Strange But True!

Q. How did a demonstration on the moon, of all places, confirm a scientific theory posed over four centuries ago?

A. In 1589, it is said, Galileo Galilei simultaneously released both a heavy ball and a light one from atop the Leaning Tower of Pisa and — air resistance being negligible compared to the balls' weights — they landed on the ground below at the same time. Thus, the famed Italian astronomer demonstrated the equivalence principle at the heart of general relativity, stating that “bodies ‘fall' at the same rate through a gravitational field regardless of their mass or structure,” says Adam Hadhazy in Discover magazine. This principle also holds that the same results should obtain regardless of where and when in the universe the experiments take place.


 
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