How We Come To Realize That The Earth Is Not The Center of The Universe
How We Come To Realize That The Earth Is Not The Center of The Universe
How We Come To Realize That The Earth Is Not The Center of The Universe
HUMSS A-40
Assignment:
1. What are the three types of terrestrial motion that the Greeks
considered?
A. Motion with respect to quality- general designation that is used to include both
contraries: and by quality (in a sense which constitutes a specific distinction) is a
passive quality in virtue of which a thing is said to be acted on or to be incapable
of being acted on.
B. Motion with respect to quantity - it has no name that includes both contraries,
but it is called increase or decrease according as one or the other is designated:
motion in the direction of complete magnitude is increase, motion in the
contrary direction is decrease.
C. Motion with respect to place it has no name either general or particular: but
some designate it by the general name of locomotion, though strictly the term
'locomotion' is applicable to things that change their place only when they have
not the power to come to a stand and to things that dont move themselves
locally
B. Annual Motion - over the course of a year, the Sun appears to move a little
towards the East each day as seen with respect to the background stars. This
daily eastward drift is <1per day (there are 365 days in a year, but only 360 in
a circle). This apparent motion reflects the Earth's annual orbit around the Sun.
To "save the appearances" with a system of uniform circular motions is, in the
context of modern science, an arbitrary and absurd task. Granted, the motions of
the planets and the Sun and the Moon could be reproduced using, in clever
combination, circles of various sizes with unchanging rotational speeds. But it would
be a cumbersome contraption. Modern science has achieved a more elegant and
informative solution to a more productively formulated problem, at least in the
opinion of modern scientists.
The fact remains, however, that a task was set for astronomers the task was
generally accepted and the task was pursued for nearly two thousand years, from
the Greeks in the fourth century b.c. to Copernicus and the European Renaissance in
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries a.d. Historical importance is not
necessarily negated by lack of plausibility, especially when plausibility is judged in
hindsight by different people in a different age with different standards.
Simplicius lived nearly a thousand years after Plato and Aristotle and the beginning
of Greek astronomy, and he lacked direct access to Plato's original writings. Nor is
any explicit statement about saving the appearances with a system of uniform
circular motions now found in Plato's surviving writings. Hence
some historians of science question the central role in the development of planetary
theory often assigned to Plato. But whether it began with Plato or slightly afterward,
the task for Greek astronomers working in what came to be regarded, rightly or
wrongly, as the Platonic tradition, was to save the
appearances: to explain apparently irregular motions detected by the senses as a
combination of uniform circular motions.
Plato lays down the principle that the heavenly bodies' motion is circular, uniform,
and constantly regular. Thereupon he sets the mathematicians the following
problem: what circular motions, uniform and perfectly regular, are to be admitted as
hypotheses so that it might be possible to save the appearances presented by the
planets.
A combination of uniform circular motions now seems absurd. Within Plato's
philosophy, however, the concept is plausible. And his philosophy is plausible when
viewed within the context of his life. Plato's philosophy can be understood as a
reaction to the temporary moral values of his age, which left him highly dissatisfied
and sent him searching for a new philosophy.
D. Astrolabe - was originally invented by the Greeks, but made far more precise by
Arab astronomers. The viewer looked through a pair of sighting holes on each
end of the long arm. The face of the astrolabe held a disc that could be removed
and replaced by other discs, much like a computer. Each disc was used in
traveling for a different latitude. By sighting on certain stars and aligning the
astrolabe with the north star, the user could determine a precise time for his
location.
E. Modern-day Gregorian calendar - was based upon the solar calendar which
measured the duration of one complete orbit of planet Earth around the Sun.
Previous calendars, such as the Chinese calendar, relied on the complete orbit of
the Moon around Earth, which was approximately 30 days. When ancient
kingdoms and empires rose, they worshipped deities who represented the sky,
the universe or the cosmos.
B. We have already noted the two discoveries by Tycho (the supernova and comet)
that showed the "superlunary" world was not immutable, contrary to the view of
Aristotle. But again, this did not violate the geocentric model for the motions of
the planets. Other evidence was needed. This evidence required a new
instrument, the telescope.
C. The invention of the telescope has been credited to Hans Lippershey, a Dutch
spectacle maker. But this may or may not be correct. The story goes that in July
of 1609 Galileo had heard that a Dutchman had devised an instrument
composed of two lenses that made objects appear closer. Not wanting to be
scooped, Galileo quickly came up with his own version.
D. Galileo was assembling the ammunition to mount the final assault on the
geocentric model. That objects could orbit Jupiter instead of the Earth, showed
that the Earth could in no way be considered the sole center of the universe.
E. But this, by itself, was not quite sufficient to de-throne the geocentric model,
since Tycho had already proposed a hybrid model where Mercury, Venus, Mars,
Jupiter and Saturn orbited the Sun, while the Moon and Sun orbited the Earth.
Galileo's observations continued to mount, and one of the most important came
in late 1610 when he found that the planet Venus showed phases just like those
of the Moon. This observation finally ruled out the Ptolemaic system.
F. He also showed that neither the Sun nor the Moon were perfect.
10. Apply Keplers 3rd law of planetary motion to objects in the solar
system.
3rd law: The ratio of the squares of the periods of any two planets is equal to the
ratio of the cubes of their average distances from the sun. (The Law of Harmonies)
Law of harmonies - compares the orbital period and radius of orbit of a planet to
those of other planets. Unlike Kepler's first and second laws that describe the
motion characteristics of a single planet, the third law makes a comparison between
the motion characteristics of different planets. The comparison being made is that
the ratio of the squares of the periods to the cubes of their average distances from
the sun is the same for every one of the planets. As an illustration, consider the
orbital period and average distance from sun (orbital radius) for Earth and mars as
given in the table below.
Observe that the T2/R3 ratio is the same for Earth as it is for mars. In fact, if the
same T2/R3 ratio is computed for the other planets, it can be found that this ratio is
nearly the same value for all the planets (see table below). Amazingly, every planet
has the same T2/R3 ratio.
(NOTE: The average distance value is given in astronomical units where 1 a.u. is
equal to the distance from the earth to the sun - 1.4957 x 10 11 m. The orbital
period is given in units of earth-years where 1 earth year is the time required
for the earth to orbit the sun - 3.156 x 107 seconds).
Kepler's third law provides an accurate description of the period and distance
for a planet's orbits about the sun. Additionally, the same law that describes
the T2/R3 ratio for the planets' orbits about the sun also accurately describes
the T2/R3 ratio for any satellite (whether a moon or a man-made satellite) about
any planet. There is something much deeper to be found in this T2/R3 ratio -
something that must relate to basic principles of motion.