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Paris Manuscript E — 121

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Bibliothèque de l'Institut de France, Paris

Del moto fatto dal grave.

Ogni grave si move per quel verso, donde esso più pesa.

El moto del grave è fatto per quel verso, dove trova minore resistenzia.

La parte più grave de' corpi che si movano in fra l'aria, si fa guida delli lor moti1.

Quel grave è di più tardo discenso in fra l'aria, che cade per maggiore latitudine.

Seguita che quel grave sarà di più veloce discenso, che si restrigne in più brieve larghezza.

Il discenso libero d'ogni grave e fatto per la linia del suo maggior diamitro.

Quel grave si fa più veloce, che si riduce in più brieve grossezza.

Tanto è più tardo il discenso del grave, quanto s'astende in maggiore larghezza.

On the motion made by the heavy body

On the motion made by the heavy body.

Every heavy body moves in the direction where it weighs most.

The motion of the heavy body is made in the direction where it finds least resistance.

The heaviest part of bodies that move through the air makes itself the guide of their motions.

That heavy body is of slower descent through the air which falls across a greater breadth.

It follows that that heavy body will be of swifter descent which draws itself together into a shorter width.

The free descent of every heavy body is made along the line of its greatest diameter.

That heavy body becomes swifter which is reduced to a shorter thickness.

The descent of the heavy body is the slower, the more it spreads out over a greater breadth.

On the Motion of Falling Heavy Bodies

How the descent of a weight through air varies with its breadth and thickness

Physics & Mechanics

A page of unillustrated propositions on how a heavy body falls, headed 'Del moto fatto dal grave' (On the motion made by the heavy body). Leonardo states that a weight moves in the direction where it weighs most and meets least resistance, and that its heaviest part guides its motion. He then relates the speed of descent through air to cross-section: a body spread over a greater breadth falls more slowly, while one drawn into a shorter width or thickness falls faster.

On this page

Direction of a heavy body's motion

Every heavy body moves in the direction where it weighs most, and its motion is made where it finds least resistance. The heaviest part of bodies moving through the air acts as the guide of their motions.

Speed of descent and cross-section through air

A heavy body falling across a greater breadth is of slower descent, while one compressed into a shorter width descends faster. The free descent of every heavy body follows the line of its greatest diameter, and it becomes swifter as it is reduced to a shorter thickness.

Reader's Edition — described with AI from the e-Leo transcription.