FARADAY 



FIG. 10 



was to balance it on the point of a stick. Now you will see 

 I have only to place two sharp-pointed sticks one on each 

 side, and give it wings, thus, and 

 you will find this beautiful condi- 

 tion fulfilled. 



We come now to another point. 

 All bodies, whether heavy or light, 

 fall to the earth by this force 

 which we call gravity. By ob- 

 servation, moreover, we see that 

 bodies do not occupy the same 

 time in falling ; I think you will be 

 able to see that this piece of paper 

 and that ivory ball fall with dif- 

 ferent velocities to the table [drop- 

 ping them] ; and if, again, I take 

 a feather and an ivory ball, and 

 let them fall, you see they reach 

 the table or earth at different times ; that is to say, the ball 

 faster than the feather. Now that should not be so, for all 

 bodies do fall equally fast to the earth. There are one or 

 two beautiful points included in that statement. First of all, 

 it is manifest that an ounce, or a pound, or a ton, or a thou- 

 sand tons, all fall equally fast, no one faster than another: 

 here are two balls of lead, a very light one and a very heavy 

 one, and you perceive they both fall to the earth in the same 

 time. Now if I were to put into a little bag a number of 

 these balls sufficient to make up a bulk equal to the large one, 

 they would also fall in the same time; for if an avalanche 

 fall from the mountains, the rocks, snow, and ice, together 

 falling toward the earth, fall with the same velocity, what- 

 ever be their size. 



I can not take a better illustration of this than that of gold 

 leaf, because it brings before us the reason of this apparent 

 difference in the time of the fall. Here is a piece of gold 

 leaf. Now if I take a lump of gold and this gold leaf, and 

 let them fall through the air together, you see that the lump 

 of gold the sovereign or coin will fall much faster than 

 the gold leaf. But why? They are both gold, whether 

 sovereign or gold leaf. Why should they not fall to the 



