Galileo's discovery of scaling laws
Abstract
Galileo's realization that nature is not scale invariant motivated his subsequent discovery of scaling laws. His thinking is traced to two lectures he gave on the geography of Dante's Inferno.
- Publication:
-
American Journal of Physics
- Pub Date:
- June 2002
- DOI:
- 10.1119/1.1475329
- arXiv:
- arXiv:physics/0110031
- Bibcode:
- 2002AmJPh..70..575P
- Keywords:
-
- 01.50.-i;
- 01.55.+b;
- 45.40.Gj;
- Educational aids;
- General physics;
- Ballistics;
- Physics - History and Philosophy of Physics
- E-Print:
- 15 pages, Latex. The discussion section has been rewritten to improve the exposition, and to include discussion of a 1609 letter to Antonio de'Medici. It has been submitted to American Journal of Physics