Sure, apples are delicious and good for you, but did you know the apple played a pivotal role in helping Isaac Newton make history?! Apples can make a huge difference in our lives, and in more ways than just eating them. In fact, gravity was discovered because of one simple apple.
In his book, Wild Apples Henry David Thoreau said, “Surely the apple is the noblest of fruits.” And when you think about the particular apple in this story, we think you’ll agree.
The Apple That Changed The World
A long time ago, in a land not-so-far-away (England) a man (Sir Isaac Newton) with curly, long white locks of hair (which was probably a wig) was sitting under an apple tree minding his own business when a simple apple fell from the branches above him and hit the ground. With that thud, the concept of gravity was formed.
We’ve gotta give Newton SOME credit, right? After all, he didn’t just come up with the idea for gravity on the spot. He was a pretty smart cookie: he even attended Cambridge University and studied the research of Galileo (that’s the guy who figured out that the planets revolve around the sun and not the Earth). Both he and Galileo liked math, and Newton figured out he could use math to help explain how our universe works: thus was born Newton’s Laws of Motion.
Fruit-Inspired Science: Newton’s Laws of Motion
- The First Law states an object will stay still, or keep moving at the same speed in the same direction unless it’s being pushed or pulled by an outside force.
- The Second Law is all about how force affects an object, as in if an outside force (like wind or a physical push) is added to a still or already moving object, the object will then either begin to move, or move faster, in the same direction.
- The Third Law explains if an object is either pushed or pulled by an outside force (again such as wind or physical force), it will push or pull the equivalent of the force that is pushing or pulling it, but in the opposite direction.
For a more complete and sciencey explanation of Newton’s Laws, take a look at The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s article on Isaac Newton.
These three laws explain why the apple hit Newton on the head, and then the earth, rather than floating into the sky. He went on to apply these laws to the planets, and the universe at large. So, in way, an apple changed the way we comprehended the universe around us. That’s a pretty big feat for just one fruit.
What has a simple fruit taught YOU about life and the way things around us work?