The Mechanical Universe

“The Apple and the Moon” is lesson eight in part one of “The Mechanical Universe. . .and Beyond .” You may come to Broida room 1630 to view this episode. The description from the accompanying manual follows.

You can view this individual episode here.

Lesson 8: The Apple and the Moon/The first authentic steps toward outer space. Seeking an explanation for Kepler's laws, Newton discovered that gravity describes the force between any two particles in the universe. From and English orchard to Cape Canaveral and beyond, Newton's universal law of gravity reveals why an apple but not the moon falls to the Earth./Text Assignment: Chapter 8 (Advanced text -- Chapter 7)/Instructional Objectives/1) Recognize that a gravitational force exists between any two objects and that the force is directly proportional to the square of the distance between them. 2) Understand the functional dependence of the gravitational force on mass and distance. 3) Use the following expressions to solve problems: F equals GMm-over-r-squared, F equals ma, a equals GM-over-r-squared. 4) Recognize that, for small enough velocities, the time for a projectile to fall to earth is independent of its horizontal velocity, but for very large horizontal velocities, the effect of the earth's curvature must be taken into consideration. 5) Describe orbital motion in terms of the law of universal gravitation and inertia.