Physics IB EE ideas and Gallieo's results

[Roocow]

I'm new here but I have seen other posts about Physics EE here, so I’m hoping this is the right place. The Extended essay needs to be around 4000 words long and needs to include an experiment. My original idea was to repeat one of Galileo’s experiments and see how accurate it was in comparison with modern equipment, but I have had no luck finding these results, but if anyone knows where they are that would be great help! :)
Otherwise I would need more ideas. I have only just started, so have no particular favourite, but just an idea that could easy be experimented on would be great, Thank you! :)

 

[Simon Bridge]

You can get high-res scans of G's original papers online. eg.
http://www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/Galileo_Prototype/

However, you are probably better repeating the experiments he did in general using his techniques compared with modern methods.

For eg. It was common for natural philosophers of his time to measure time using their pulse, a G did the same a great deal. However, this was not accurate enough for his motion experiments ... so he used a method of pouring water at a constant rate, and weighing the poured water.

He would also roll balls down a ramp directed to roll up another one. (Using a carved curve to cover the otherwise abrupt change at the bottom.) You could easily repeat these experiments directly or using a toy-car-track set ... taking data with the water pouring method (also see how he'd measure weight) and using a stopwatch. (Repeat the runs to get good statistics - maybe he didn't need stopwatch accuracy?)

There are quite a lot of sites discussing how G got his results - so reproducing the methods is probably the way to go.