Where Aristotle, Galileo and NASA went wrong...

Using intuitive reasoning, Aristotle theorized that heavy objects accelerate faster than lighter ones, in direct proportion to the weight of the objects.

Using counterintuitive reasoning, Galileo disagreed with Aristotle's concept: In an effort to disprove Aristotle's theory, Galileo dropped weights of varying masses from the Leaning Tower of Pisa, showing, through observation, that their acceleration appeared to be independent of their mass. Galileo performed additional experiments involving balls rolling down inclined ramps, which appeared to prove the same thing: that falling or rolling objects appeared to accelerate at the same rate independently of their mass.

Aristotle's theory was based on the philosophy of logic in that it seemed obvious that heavier objects would fall faster than light objects.

Galileo's theory was based on actual observation and experimentation -- though imprecise by today's measures.

Where they both made their mistake was in comparing the insignificant mass of the objects to each other and excluding the primary mass of the Earth, which is 5.985 trillion trillion kilograms.

As stated in Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation:  Every object in the Universe attracts every other object.

The rate of acceleration at which two masses approach each other at a specific distance is always proportional to the sum of their masses.  If the total mass is increased, the rate of acceleration increases. If the total mass is decreased, the rate of acceleration decreases.

Given the distance of separation as 32 feet, a two kilogram mass dropped from that height will accelerate towards the Earth faster than a one kilogram mass so dropped. The heavier mass will strike first at less than the diameter of a nucleus of a hydrogen atom before the lighter mass impacts the Earth. Such a minute distance was obviously not measurable in the time of either Aristotle or Galileo due to the lack of technology -- And, to date, this necessarily precision experiment has not been yet replicated with any of the existing modern day tools such as either an electron-microscope or an atomic clock; Though there was one famous non-scientific demonstration when, in July 1971, Apollo 15 Astronaut David Scott, holding a hammer in his right hand and a falcon's feather in his left hand, performed Galileo's experiment on the Moon.

Please click on the boot-imprint picture at the right to see the actual video of that momentous occasion. Once again the sum of the total masses was never figured into the experiment, making this just one more giant step backward for mankind...