November 14 -- Art Young, SDSU
Astronomy:
Rolling and Sliding and Swinging and Falling: The Experiments of
Galileo Galilei is arguably the father of experimental physics. His ingenuity led to insights into the physics of free-fall, projectiles, and pendulums among many other vexing problems from antiquity. In this talk we focus upon his failed attempt to test his theory of projectiles, and we uncover a very strange property of rolling spheres that seems to have escaped the notice of all the physicists and historians who have analyzed his experiments. This peculiar effect might be fortuitous in having deceived Galileo to believe that rolling balls simulate free-fall; or it might be the misfortune that concealed the correct physics from his view. We also suggest that Galileo may have been the first physicist to do a "null" experiment. Along the way we stage a race between cans of chicken broth, and clam chowder to shed more light on the physics of rotating objects.