I V wrote: > On Mon, 11 Feb 2008 14:07:49 -0800, Erik Max Francis wrote: >> experience. The notion of impetus -- where an object throw moves in a >> straight line until it runs out of impetus, then falls straight down -- >> is clearly contrary to everyday experience of watching two people throw >> a ball back and forth from a distance, since the path of the ball is >> clearly curved. > > It's clear _to us_ because when we think about such things, we think in > Newtonian terms. I'm not at all sure it would have been clear to people > in the middle ages; when you throw a ball, it whizzes by so fast, it's > hard to be sure how it's actually moving.
Hence why I suggested standing back from two people throwing it back and forth. If they lob it high, it's hard to miss that the pass is curved. -- Erik Max Francis && [EMAIL PROTECTED] && http://www.alcyone.com/max/ San Jose, CA, USA && 37 18 N 121 57 W && AIM, Y!M erikmaxfrancis Man has wrested from nature the power to make the world a desert or to make deserts bloom. -- Adlai Stevenson, 1952 -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
