Who first put a feather & ballbearing in a vacuum?

  • Thread starter lindsayg
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In summary, the conversation discusses the origins of a popular school lab experiment involving dropping a hammer and feather in a vacuum. The participants mention various historical figures and time periods, narrowing down the experiment's timeline to roughly 350 years.
  • #1
lindsayg
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I've got to really thinking about when this experiment was first done in schools...

During the Apollo 15 mission, David Scott dropped a hammer and feather - and Galileo rolled cannonballs down a slope - but does anyone know who first thought up the most simple, mind-bending school lab experiment of all time? Or when it first got used??

It's such a classic, I have to know!

:bugeye:
 
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  • #2
Now I am trying to think when it was done.
 
  • #3
Hooke invented a decent vacuum pump and was a contemporary of Newton
 
  • #4
mgb_phys said:
Hooke invented a decent vacuum pump and was a contemporary of Newton

I like your thinking... well that was about 1660, so we've narrowed it down to the last 350 years! :wink:
 

1. Who is credited with first putting a feather and ballbearing in a vacuum?

The credit for first putting a feather and ballbearing in a vacuum goes to Galileo Galilei, who conducted the experiment in the early 17th century.

2. What was the purpose of putting a feather and ballbearing in a vacuum?

The purpose of this experiment was to demonstrate Galileo's theory that objects of different masses fall at the same rate in a vacuum, regardless of their weight.

3. How did Galileo conduct the experiment?

Galileo used a long glass tube with one end sealed, and the other attached to a vacuum pump. He dropped the objects into the tube and observed their fall as the air was removed from the tube.

4. Was Galileo's experiment successful?

Yes, Galileo's experiment was successful in demonstrating that objects of different masses fall at the same rate in a vacuum. This experiment laid the foundation for modern concepts of gravity and motion.

5. Why is Galileo's experiment significant?

Galileo's experiment was significant because it challenged the widely accepted Aristotelian theory that heavier objects fall faster than lighter objects. It also paved the way for further experiments and discoveries in the fields of physics and astronomy.

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