Question
What were the views of Aristotle regarding the rate of fall of bodies on the surface of the earth?
Solution
In the early days, it was observed that a piece of stone dropped from a certain height, reaches the Earth earlier than a light piece of paper dropped from the same height. This led the great greek philospher, Aristotle to conclude that, a heavier body falls faster on the earth in comparison to a lighter body. So a body having mass twice as that of another body will fall twice fast than the lighter body.
But, in 1590, Galileo disapproved this belief. He proved that all bodies irrespective of their mass and nature, fall at the same rate towards the earth.
