Session 8: Tools, experiments and initiatives

8.4 Galileo and the practive of archery: exemplyfying the basics of Classical Physics
Philippe Leonard, Experimentarium (ULB), Belgium

Abstract
In the early 17th century, through enigmas and experiments, Galileo brilliantly explained the composition of motion and the laws of inertia. An experiment will show that an arrow propelled at a speed of almost 200 km/h through a horizontal shot falls at the same time it moves forward, in a signifi cant way and even on a distance of a few meters only. The superimposition of the vertical fall movement on that of the horizontal shot is particularly emphasized, as well as the ratios between the falling distances for arrows shot at different speeds.