I would like to know more about inertia, or laziness, and I have a question: Galileo was the first to discover that in a vacuum heavy objects don’t fall faster than lighter objects.

That was a counter-intuïtive discovery, and I wonder:

Is it possible that he also discovered that lighter objects fall faster than heavy ones, and this is also important for the orbits of satellites?

1 hour ago, Hello2 said:

Is it possible that he also discovered that lighter objects fall faster than heavy ones, and this is also important for the orbits of satellites?

This is not what happens. All objects fall at the same rate (in vacuum).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5C5_dOEyAfk

 

Please correct me if I am wrong but shouldn't there be a distinction made between inertia and acceleration? Is it inertia that causes both the hammer and the feather to fall at the same rate? The OP connects Galileo to inertia? Is there a connection, or is it the wrong term?

7 hours ago, jajrussel said:

Please correct me if I am wrong but shouldn't there be a distinction made between inertia and acceleration? Is it inertia that causes both the hammer and the feather to fall at the same rate? The OP connects Galileo to inertia? Is there a connection, or is it the wrong term?

Inertia is resistance to change of acceleration and is a function of mass and velocity. Acceleration due to gravity (free fall) is not affected by mass, so it should be clear that inertia does not affect free fall.

14 hours ago, StringJunky said:

Inertia is resistance to change of acceleration[/quote]

resistance to change of velocity.

14 hours ago, StringJunky said:

Quote

and is a function of mass and velocity. Acceleration due to gravity (free fall) is not affected by mass, so it should be clear that inertia does not affect free fall.

 

12 hours ago, Country Boy said:

resistance to change of velocity.

If you change any aspect of an object's motion you are accelerating it.  I'm open to correction though.

Edited September 10, 20187 yr by StringJunky

Yes, and a constant

24 minutes ago, StringJunky said:

If you change any aspect of an object's motion you are accelerating it. 

Yes, and a constant acceleration, with no "change in acceleration" is a change in velocity requiring that inertia be overcome.

1 hour ago, Country Boy said:

Yes, and a constant

Yes, and a constant acceleration, with no "change in acceleration" is a change in velocity requiring that inertia be overcome.

OK.