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Galileo’s law of odd numbers : “The distances traversed, during equal intervals of time, by a body falling from rest, stand to one another in the same ratio as the odd numbers beginning with unity [namely, 1: 3: 5: 7…...].” Prove it. |
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Answer» Solution :Let us divide the time interval of motion of an object under free fall into MANY equal intervals `TAU`and find out the distancestraversed during successive intervals of time. Since initial velocity is zero, we have `y=-(1)/(2)g t^(2)` Using this equation, we can calculate the position of the object after different time intervals, `0, tau, 2tau, 3tau`... which are given in second column of Table 3.2. If we take `(-1//2)g t^(2)` as`y_(0)` - the position coordinate after FIRST time interval `tau`, then third column gives the positions in the UNIT of `y_(0)`. The fourth column gives the distances traversed in successive `tau s`. We find that the distances are in the simple ratio 1: 3: 5: 7: 9: 11… as shown in the last column. This law was established by Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) who was the first to make quantitative studies of free fall. |
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