Can you solve it? Isaac Newton’s tower drop puzzle — SkimNews
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- The puzzle challenges solvers to predict whether an object dropped from a high tower lands slightly west, slightly east, or exactly below, given Earth's rotation, with Newton calling the answer "quite contrary to ye opinion of ye vulgar."
- Isaac Newton posed the problem in a 1679 letter to Robert Hooke, and the Guardian notes the puzzle "played a pivotal role in the birth of classical physics."
- Hooke's correspondence rekindled Newton's interest in gravity and motion, ultimately leading to his formulation of the mathematical foundations of classical physics in the Principia.
- David Acheson, emeritus professor of maths at Oxford, suggested the puzzle and is the author of several popular maths books.
- Acheson's latest book, Wonders in Motion: The Story of Dynamics, includes additional background on the tower drop puzzle and is described as a "beautifully accessible introduction to the science of motion," available at the Guardian Bookshop.
- The puzzle runs in a Guardian series set on alternate Mondays since 2015, with the columnist inviting reader submissions for future installments.
Why it matters: The article reframes a counter-intuitive thought experiment as the seed of classical physics: Newton's 1679 letter to Hooke on the tower drop rekindled his interest in gravity and led directly to the Principia. For readers, Acheson's new book packages that origin story as an accessible entry point into the science of motion.
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