The Laws of

PHYSICS are

UNIVERSAL
ARISTOTELIAN
CONCEPT OF
MOTION
 Aristotelian concept of motion
Aristotle was an ancient Greek philosopher and scientist
born in the city of Stagira, Chalcidice, on the Northern
periphery of classical Greece. Aristotle used two
philosophical terms to define and analyze motion. He
defined motion as the actuality of a potentiality.
Potentiality refers to any “possibility” that a thing can be
said to have. In contrast, actuality is the actual change in
motion or activity that represents an exercise or
fulfillment of a possibility, when a possibility becomes
realistic in the fullest sense.
Aristotle’s definition seems to involve a contradiction.
However, St.Thomas Aquinas emphasized and
maintained that this is the only way to define motion.
Aristotle described motion into two kinds: natural and
violent motion. Natural motion can be described as any
motion in which any object does naturally. If it is
moved,it will return to its natural state. In addition,
solid materials (or liquids) fall as they seek their natural
resting place. Air likes to rise upwards, as do flames,
since that is their natural
resting place
Natural motion is either straight up or straight
down. Examples of natural motions include:

•A book lying at rest on a table naturally remains at

rest.
•If you let go of a book it naturally falls toward the
earth’s center.
•Smoke naturally rises.
•The sun naturally rises in the east, crosses the sky,
and then sets in the west.
Violent motion, on the other hand, is the type of
motion which requires an external push or pull for
the object to move. Examples of violent motion
include:

•Pushing a book along a table

•Lifting a book
ARISTOTLE’S
VIEWS ON
MOTION
Aristotle’s Views on Motion
The Greek believed that everything was made of
four elements – air, water, fire
and earth. These four elements possess vertical
motion; the earth moves down toward
its natural resting place. Water’s natural place is just
above earth. Air is another element
in which generally it rises to its natural place in the
atmosphere. Fire rises to the
atmosphere which is its natural place.
Aristotle also believed that heavy objects fall
faster than lighter ones. He thought that
objects fall at a speed proportional to their
weights; the heavier the object, the faster it
falls.
Aristotle views horizontal motion of the projectile as the
result of the tendency of any object in motion to remain
in motion at constant velocity. Due to the absence of
horizontal forces, a projectile remains in motion with
constant horizontal velocity. Projectile motion is the
motion of an object upon which the only force acting is
gravity. A projectile is any object that once thrusted
upwards continues in motion by its own inertia and is
pulled downward by force of gravity that manifest
horizontal motion.
He also had his view on the projectile motion of an
object. He believed that an impetus is given to an object
thrown at a certain angle which is a force or energy that
permits an object to move. The object will continue to
move in the same direction until the impetus is lost and
the object falls to the ground and returns to its natural
state.
As a summary, Aristotle believed that:

• All objects naturally seek their resting places.

• All motion on the Earth is linear.

• All motion in the heavens (outer space) is curved. The speed

at which an object falls is directly related to the mass of an
object. Heavy objects fall faster than lighter ones.

• Motion continues for as long as a force is applied to an

object. Removing the force stops the object.
Galileo’s
Conceptions of
Motion
Galileo’s Conceptions of Motion
Galileo built his concepts of motion from Aristotle’s ideas.
These are his ideas on horizontal and vertical motion:
Horizontal motion. A moving object has the tendency to
remain in motion at constant velocity. A ball rolling on a plane
will continue rolling with constant velocity. If unimpeded and
no external force acts on the ball, it will remain in motion
with a constant horizontal velocity. If the Earth is flat and
extended infinitely, any moving object will continue to move
indefinitely. This motion, however, is not evident in nature as
there are always external forces acting on all objects.
Vertical motion. Objects fall at the same time regardless
of their weight in the absence of resistance. If an object
encounters a resistive force from a fluid equal or greater
than its weight, it will slow down and reach uniform
motion until it reaches the bottom and stop. For
example, in the absence of resistance, a piece of paper
and a piece of nail released from the same height will
reach the bottom at the same time.
Galileo believed that a projectile is a combination of
uniform motion in the horizontal direction and uniformly
accelerated motion in the vertical direction. If it is not
impeded, it will continue to move even without an
applied force. However, he began to challenge Aristotle’s
ideas when he did actual experiments. Eventually, he
presented his
own description of motion, different from Aristotle’s
Galilean Conceptions
vs. Aristotelian
Conceptions
Galilean Conceptions vs. Aristotelian Conceptions

According to Aristotle, motion can either be

natural or violent. In natural motion, an object
will move and return to its natural state based
on its material or composition. In violent
motion, on the other hand, an external push or
pull is required for the object to move.
In natural motion, the object will move and will return to
its natural state based on the object’s material or
composition. In contrast, an object moving in a violent
motion requires an external push or pull for the object to
move. For projectile motion, he believed that an object
thrown at a certain angle is given an impetus—a force or
energy that permits an object to move. The projectile
will continue to move until it loses its impetus. The
object will return to its natural state causing it to stop
and fall to the ground.
Galileo disproved Aristotle’s claims and believed that the motion of
objects is not simply due to the composition of objects. He posited
that motion can be measured using physical variables such as time and
distance and thus can be described mathematically. Through his
experiments, he was able to prove that:
1. An object in uniform motion will travel a distance that is
proportional to the time it will take to travel;

2. a uniformly accelerating object will travel at a speed proportional to

some factor of time; and

3. an object in motion, if unimpeded, will continue to be in motion; an

external force is not necessary to maintain the motion.
How Galileo Inferred Tha
Objects in Vacuum Fall
with Uniform
Acceleration
The viewpoint of Aristotle regarding freely falling objects
which prevailed until the 17th century was challenged by
Galileo. Galileo disproved Aristotle’s theory by pure
reasoning and logical arguments. In one of his
experiments, he used three boxes of equal weights. The
three boxes A, B, and C were placed side to side and
made to fall at the same time from the same height.
Following Aristotle’s theory, the boxes will fall at the
same time. If boxes A and B were glued together and
made to fall at the same time as box C, will they fall
faster than box C?
Galileo argued that they will still fall and reach the bottom at
the same time. He argued further that B will not pull A faster
as B alone was moving as fast as C. A cannot push down B
faster since A alone was moving as fast as C. This shows that
although twice as heavy as C, A and B together was falling as
fast as C and therefore reach the bottom at the same time as C.
Galileo proved with his experiments that when objects
are dropped simultaneously, they will reach the ground
at the same time regardless of their masses and air
resistance. In another set of experiments, he discovered
that objects fall with uniform acceleration.

Galileo was fascinated by the behavior of falling objects.

He knew that falling objects increase their speed as they
go down. This change in speed is acceleration. Galileo
used inclined planes to investigate the motion of objects
as he did not have equipment to measure this change.
On his experiment, he had observed the following:

• A ball rolling down an inclined plane increases its speed by

the same value after every second. For example, the speed of a
rolling ball was found to increase by 2 m/s every second. The
table below shows the changes in speed:
TIME (s) SPEED (m/s)

0 0

1 2

2 4

3 6

4 8

5 10
As the inclined plane becomes steeper, the acceleration of the
rolling ball increases.

• When the inclined plane was positioned vertically, the rolling

ball reached its maximum acceleration as if the ball is simply
falling.

These observations led Galileo to conclude that regardless of

the mass of objects, when air resistance is small enough to be
neglected, falling objects would always have uniform
acceleration.
Galileo’s
Experiments About
Motion
For many centuries, nobody was successful in
challenging Aristotle’s ideas. After two thousand years,
Galileo was able to challenge Aristotle’s theories about
motion. He tested Aristotle’s ideas through “thought”
experiments which he did not actually perform except in
his mind. However, he arrived at conclusions through
logical thought. Through his experiments, and with a
clear logic and mathematical knowledge, he showed that
a body moving along a frictionless horizontal surface
does not need an external force to maintain its uniform
speed.
What were Galileo’s
contributions to the
concept of motion?
Galileo tested his assertions by letting balls run down bent
rails. As the ball is released from position A and allowed to run
down the bent rail ABC, the ball rises to position C, which is
nearly the same height as A. The ball is also made to run down
the bent rail ABD and ABE and the ball again rises to nearly the
same height as position A. He observed that as the ball rolls
down the rail, its speed increases; as it rolls up, its speed
decreases. Consequently, the ball will only reach nearly the
same height as the original position. This difference in height is
due to the friction between the ball and the rail surface.
He also observed that as the ball runs down the bent rail, its
speed increases. However, as the ball moves up the rail, its
speed decreases. This change in speed is due to gravity.
When the ball is made to run down the bent rail ABF,
where BF is horizontal, the ball will never be able to rise
to nearly the same height as position A. Instead, the ball
will continue to move at constant speed in a straight
line.
Galileo showed that there is a natural tendency for
objects to continue its state of motion unless a push or a
pull compels it to change that state. If the ball is moving,
it will continue to do so at constant velocity just as it will
remain at rest if it was stationary. Galileo called this
natural tendency inertia
His assertions became the inspiration for Newton’s
first law of motion. They both imply that no force is
needed to keep the motion of an object and that
the object’s inertia would keep it from changing its
state of motion. Newton’s first law of motion states
that “an object at rest remains at rest and an object
in motion remains in motion at constant speed and
constant direction unless acted upon by an external
force”.
 What is the difference
between Galileo’s assertion
on horizontal motion and
Newton’s first law of
motion?
There is a very subtle difference between Galileo’s
assertion and Newton’s first law of motion. The
difference lies in the concept of force. Galileo knew
about friction but did not know about the concept
of force. He used the terms “push and pull” to
signify forces. It was Sir Isaac Newton who defined
the concept of force and its relation to motion.
Newton’s first law of motion is also called the Law
of Inertia.
How is the first law of
motion used in
everyday life?
The motion of a ball falling from the sky or a model
rocket being launched up into the atmosphere are
examples of the law of inertia. It can also be used
to explain the principle behind safety features used
in cars such as seat belts, head rest and air bags.
These safety features are installed to prevent
injuries to passengers.If a speeding car suddenly
stops, the driver and the passenger are thrown
forward. This is due to inertia keeping them moving
forward.
On the other hand, when a car accelerates, the
driver and the passenger tend to move backward
because of their tendency to remain at rest. . This
could also happen during collision where the
passenger is thrusted forward while the head tends
to remain at rest This could lead to serious head
injuries which can be life threating. This is the
reason why cars are now equipped with these
safety features.
Seat belts and air bags are designed to protect
the passengers from injuries if they are thrown
forward while head rests are designed to
protect passengers if they are thrown
backwards. The law requires that the driver and
passengers wear seatbelts.
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