Converging and Diverging Obliquity; Is Gravity Natural?
Defining the two kinds of cord-angle, and arguing that weight and lightness are accidental powers
Leonardo defines two kinds of cord geometry: 'converging obliquity,' where the cords a b and c d leave more space above than below, and 'diverging obliquity,' where cords e f and g h leave less space above than below. He restates that suspended weight acts wholly along its support and that the least-oblique support is loaded most. A marginal essay asks whether gravity and levity are natural or accidental, concluding both are accidental powers that arise and perish together, illustrated by a bubble rising through water and a stone sinking through it. A narrow side column asks how the water refills the space a sinking stone vacates.
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Converging obliquity defined (cords a b, c d)
Converging obliquity is generated by two cords that converge to the suspension of a single heavy body, like the cords a b and c d supporting the weight b d, between which there is greater space at the top than at the bottom.
Diverging obliquity defined (cords e f, g h)
Diverging obliquity is generated in two diverging cords that gain a degree of divergence at every degree of descent; cords e f and g h support the weight f h, including less space above than below. The least-oblique support is loaded most.
Gravity and levity as accidental powers; the rising bubble
Both gravity and levity are accidental powers, each tending toward its own destruction and neither arising or dying without the other. A bubble born at the bottom of the water gains its levity as the weight of the water above it is born; when the bubble reaches the air, its levity dies with that gravity.
How water refills the space left by a sinking stone
A question in the narrow side column: whether the space in the water penetrated by the sinking stone is refilled by water descending from above, by the water at the sides, or by the water beneath it.
