PHYS 190 Lecture 3: Week 3 - Lecture Notes
27 Nov 2020
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Occam"s razor: among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected. Galileo"s eight (?) major telescopic discoveries: 1. Mountains and valleys on the moon: 2. Which one of the following four observations by galileo provides the most decisive evidence in favour of the heliocentric model: mountains and valleys on the moon, stars and star clusters, moons of jupiter, phases of venus * Nail in the coffin of the geocentric model: definitive proof: venus orbits the sun, not the earth. New data -> end of geocentric worldview: tycho brahe, 1546-1601. First law (shape: the orbital paths of the planets are elliptical with the sun at one focus, two numbers, a = semi-major axis, half the long side, e = eccentricity, perfect circle: e=0, totally flattened (line): e=1. Second law (speed: an imaginary line connecting the sun to any planet sweeps out equal areas in equal times, unl simulator.
