User:Ems57fcva/sandbox/Gravitation


 * This article discusses the physical phenomenon of gravitation
 * For other senses of the words gravity and gravitation, see gravity (disambiguation).
 * ''For Newton's law of universal gravitation, see gravity.

Gravitation is the natural tendency of massive objects to accelerate towards each other. From the late 17th century into the early 20th century, this field was dominated by Newton's law of universal gravitation, which uses the force of gravity. In the 20th century, gravity became superseeded by general relativity, which treat gravitation as a result of massive objected curving spacetime.

Aristotle's laws of gravitation
It is has always been known that heavy objects which are left unsupported will fall. For most people, that this occurs is enough to know, and so it was until the study of science began.

The first serious attempts to scientifically describe gravitation were done by Aristotle. Artistotle's laws of motion were the first serious attempt to describe how things fall. For the study of planetary motions (which is now known to be another aspect of gravitation), Aristotle's work on crystal spheres led to Ptolemy's devising the Ptolemaic system for descibing planetary motions.

Although they represented a serious advance in humanity's understanding of nature, the rules laid down by Aristotle and Ptolemy through the use of what we now call the scientific method came to be treated as a kind of gospel by their successors and eventually by the Roman Catholic church. In this atmosphere, scientific questioning and advancement could not occur. This period is called the Dark Ages.