The Scientific Revolution

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Early Theories of the Universe Until the mid-1500’s all Europeans believed what they were taught by Ptolemy and Aristotle about the universe. They believed that the universe revolved around Earth. This view seemed to be common sense to the public, and was upheld by the church.

Here is a copy of Ptolemy’s Model of the Universe

One Man Changed it All…… Nicolaus Copernicus One Man Changed it All……

What Did he Do? Nicolaus Copernicus was a Polish scholar. In 1543 he introduced his radical theory in his essay On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres. He proposed a heliocentric model of the universe. Meaning, the planets revolve around the sun Breaking the word down it means Helio-from the Greek root Helios meaning sun. Centric-meaning centered or focused on.

The Copernican Model of the Universe

How did People React? People went crazy…. well not as crazy as when the plague broke out, but they were not happy… The theory was rejected for one simple, yet complex reason. They believed if Ptolemy (the earth-centered model guy) was wrong, then the whole system of human knowledge was wrong. One man finally believed he had proved Copernicus’ theory.

A very handsome man? Tycho Brahe

What Did Tycho Do? He set up his own observatory, and observed every star in the sky for years, tracking how things had moved. He believed if the Earth didn’t move, then stars wouldn’t either. People thought he was crazy, and then he died….

Someone to Support Tycho? Johannes Keppler, Brahe’s assistant, furthered his research in death. He began to use mathematical calculations to figure out planetary orbits. He also believed that Copernicus was correct that the Sun was the center of the universe, but he disagreed in one area. He believed that the planets moved around the sun in an elliptical pattern. Here is something to simulate his calculations: http://galileoandeinstein.physics.virginia.edu/mor e_stuff/flashlets/kepler6.htm

Here is a modified model of Kepler’s Universe

Someone who was seen as crazier than Copernicus, Brahe and Kepler all rolled together Galileo Galilei

Why Was he Seen As Crazy? Well…maybe less crazy, and more of a Heretic… Galileo built an astronomical telescope to truly watch what Brahe thought he observed with the naked eye. He sketched the moons of Jupiter, and saw that they revolved around the planet in the same way as the Earth does the sun.

One of his Moon Sketches

Heretic? His discoveries caused an uproar because it challenged Christian teachings on the Universe. People were taught that the heavens were in a fixed position… In 1633 he was tried before the inquisition, and placed under house arrest. Threatened with death, he withdrew his theories, and proclaimed that the Earth was the center of the universe.

Science Improves its Method Two men to revolutionize the way we think were Francis Bacon and Rene Descartes. While their views differed on many issues, they both saw eye to eye in one area, the need for observation and experimentation. The end result is what you have beat to death in your head in all of your science classes….the scientific method.

Chemistry! Another radical discovery was made during the 1600’s. Robert Boyle, refined the views of chemicals to show that they are the building block of everything. He also believed that all matter is composed of tiny particles. His discovery has been so influential that it allowed us to view matter the way we do today.

What goes up…. One last influential scientist to discuss is Isaac Newton.

There he is…….Really Loooong Hair

Newton’s Discovery One day, Newton saw an apple fall from a tree. He wondered what force caused the apple to fall down… For the next 20 years he perfected his study. He decided that this force that made the apple fall is also the same force that kept the planets in rotation around the sun. That force is Gravity http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIJeZ4MIXgI

Other Revolutionary Ideas Newton also revolutionized the fields of Physics and Calculus through his theories on motion and mechanics. Newton is also famously known for his 3 laws of motion. Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it. The relationship between an object's mass m, its acceleration a, and the applied force F is F = ma. In this law the direction of the force vector is the same as the direction of the acceleration vector.

One More Law 3. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This Might Make it Easier http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH48Lc7wq0U

Now, Please Answer the Following Questions Why did the theories of Copernicus and Galileo threaten the views of the church? In what ways did the scientific method differ from earlier approaches to learning?