In this chapter we present the foundations of Newton’s theory of gravitation. Intuitively, the theory of gravitation is easiest to understand as “action at a distance,” Latin actio ad distans, where the force between two masses is proportional to the masses themselves, and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. This is the form of Newton’s general law of grav…
In traditional societies, undoubtedly the most common conception of the figure of the Earth was that the Earth is a flat disc extending to the horizon, with the sky curving like a dome over her. On the inner surface of the dome, the celestial bodies describe their complicated orbits. Children also have generally the same conception. Only with formal education does this “naïve world model” …