Galileo and the Leaning Tower of Pisa

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 Galileo and the Leaning Tower of Pisa

by Nicolette Paradis

If I were to drop two books from my roof at the same time, one that was only a 5 page very light weight book and the other being a thick and heavy dictionary, which do you think would hit the ground 1^st? Well 425 years ago everyone would have said that the heavy thing would hit the ground 1^st, but they were wrong. In 1589 a man named Galileo proved them wrong.

There where two theories about gravity, one theory was Aristotle’s theory and the other was Galileo’s. Aristotle’s theory was that the speed an object falls is completely dependent on their masses. If you think about it that makes a lot of sense, the heavier the object the faster it falls. Galileo had a different idea. His theory was that the time it took for any object to descend was not dependant on their masses.

Galileo once said, “All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.” He also said, “We cannot teach people anything; we can only help them discover it within themselves.” I think these two quotes mean that you cannot just be told something you need to prove it. Galileo was not satisfied with just being told that the speed an object falls depends on its weight he had to prove that it was wrong. He created an experiment to prove that his theory was right.

His experiment was pretty simple. What he was going to do was drop two balls that were made of the same material, but had different masses. He would drop the two balls at the same time and if he was right they would hit the ground at the same time, but there was just a bit more to the experiment. If he just dropped the two balls from the height that he could reach when standing on the floor the heavier ball might not have time to speed up and make a difference, so he decided to drop the two balls from the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

In 1589 he did the experiment. He went to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa and dropped the two balls of the edge. They fell and then they hit the ground at the same time proving Galileo right. He successfully did the experiment, and probably looked a little crazy doing it. 




Sources for Pictures:  http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/ciencia/ciencia_matrix32.htm 
http://www.planetseed.com/node/18380

Political Cartoons

Benjamin Franklin's "Join or Die"

Thomas Nast's self portrait

The "Brains"

Right now, I am studying political cartoons, also known as editorial cartoons. They were sometimes used to tell messages to people who could not read. A well known political cartoon is Benjamin Franklin's "Join or Die".  The different parts of the snake symbolize the thirteen colonies. The meaning of "Join or Die" is that all the colonies have to unite against England or they will all perish. A major political cartoonist was Thomas Nast. He was considered to be the father of American Cartoon. He created many cartoons, and a number of them are very famous, such as the "Brains", as shown. The Harper's Weekly, a magazine, was one of the place's where Nast could show his work. There are still political cartoonists today. An example of a modern day political cartoon is Doonesbury. There is also Edison Lee. Another example of  a modern political cartoonist is Jack Ohman. "Revenue Enhancement" is a example of his work. The political cartoons date back very long ago, and still exist today.

Revenue Enhancement

Sources:

• http://cartoons.osu.edu/nast/images/nast_self_car.jpg
• http://www.phinallyphilly.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/myers160190f9-9161-4f70-beca-072b02c6a77c.jpg
• http://www.phinallyphilly.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/myers160190f9-9161-4f70-beca-072b02c6a77c.jpg
• http://media.oregonlive.com/ohman_impact/photo/10591126-large.jpg

History of Photography

Nowadays we are always taking pictures. We like to capture the moments so that we never forget them. We now can post them on social sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and many more. Being a teen especially, I love to take photos. No one thinks anything about snapping a picture on your iPhone or iPod. Sometimes you have to step back and think, “Where did photography first come from?” because it used to be a long, boring process to take just one photo.
The first photo was taken in 1826 by Joseph Niepce. His photographs were taken by on a polished pewter plate covered with a petroleum derivative which he then dissolved in white petroleum.  Bitumen hardens with exposure to light. The unhardened material was then be washed away and the metal plate polished, making a positive image.
This is the first picture ever taken. It’s the view outside the window at Le Gras in France 1825

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The first portrait picture ever taken

During the Industrial Revolution time, the want for portraits grew in the middle class. More and more people wanted to say that they had their very own picture.In 1847 Count Sergei Lvovich Levitsky designed a camera that improved the ability to focus a camera. Some of the same focusing techniques are still in use today. He also brought up the popular idea to put decorative things in the background of the photo. He worked on the quality of the photo, and putting people into different poses for their photo.

During the mid nineteenth century, photographers started to capture stories and landscape. More and more people wanted to get their picture taken. The prices of the photos were from 50 cents to 10 dollars.Artists started to make art shows of entirely photography. In the first twenty years of photography being around, is when the most development happened. In 1884 George Eastman invented dry gel on paper so the photographer no longer had to carry around plates and toxic chemicals. In July of 1888 Kodak released a camera that people could buy. Now anyone could take a picture.

The advancement of photography began to boom and cameras became easier and easier to use.  They still continue to get better quality. Some cameras are touch screen and on some you can even upload pictures and videos straight to YouTube or Facebook. The invention of photography is a great addition to our modern life.

Sources:

http://www.neatorama.com/2006/08/29/the-wonderful-world-of-early-photography/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_photography