Museo Galileo
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Virtual Museum
Brachistochrone descent
    • Setting:
      Interactive Rooms
    • Maker:
      Opera Laboratori Fiorentini - Civita Group
    • Date:
      2011
    • Brachistochrone descent

"Brachistochrone," a term derived from Greek, means "the shortest time."

This model demonstrates the Galilean principle of physics stating that a descending body travels faster along the arc of a circle that along the corresponding chord (even though the chord is the shorter path).

Jacques Bernoulli (1654-1705) demonstrated that the quickest path is not along the arc of a circle but along that of a cycloid.