Natural Science - Year I

For 2026: Please note that units are considered "under revision" until two weeks before the class date, and page content, web assignments, and exercises may change before that deadline.

Unit 29: Galileo and Mechanics

Preparation

• History Web Lecture: We introduce Galileo's efforts in mechanics, where he still shines as an exemplary experimenter. His method of designing an experiment to test an hypothesis is still considered the standard for experimental science. We also discuss the concept of inertia, which Galileo proposed in a limited form: objects in motion continue in motion unless acted on by an outside force. Newton will propose a more general form: objects tend to resist changes to their state of motion.

• Science Web Lecture: We revisit concepts of rates and the terms displacement, velocity, and motion, this time in the context of graphing changes and looking at slopes as indicators of rates.

• Homework: We do a bit of calculation in this lesson -- but it shouldn't be beyond pre-algebra students. The idea is to help them start to see how mathematics became the language of science, especially of physics.

• Discussion: We will focus on the radical changes occurring in the way science is practiced and transmitted. Changes include new methods of experimentation, use of mathematical calculations to describe and predict physical entities, and the use of national languages rather than Latin to transmit information.

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