Fariha Jahin Physics

Class 903 Mrs.

Sutjiawan


Many many years ago, people have tried their best to make
discoveries. There were many discoveries made in the BCE Era.
People have always wondered why things are the way they are.
Because on their curiosity and observations about the world
around them, they have made very important discoveries.One out
of the many great discoveries made, was how the Earth moves
around the Sun. I believe that this is a very important discovery. It
probably took a VERY long time to figure out if the Earth actually does move around the
Sun. Its not like you can wake up one day and just be like Hey guys, the Earth moves
around the Sun. It probably was a long process. Its also hard to accept the fact,
especially during the time period this discovery was made, because the knowledge of
the our Solar System, the Sun, and other planets was not really there. It was there but
there probably was not that much strong evidence.

Discovery: How did we discover that the Earth moves?


History:

A Greek astronomer named Nicolaus Copernicus is know to be the first person to be
accurate about the fact that the Earth indeed moves and rotates around the Sun. There
were, however, many other astronomers who thought that the Earth to be moving around
the Sun. One of the ancient astronomers was Aristarchus of Samos. Aristarchus was born
c. 310 BCEdied c. 230 BCE. Aristarchus supported the idea of the Earth to be moving
around the Sun, which was at the center of the (our) solar system. Due to lack of
evidence, his theory was rejected. The Earth moving around the Sun is known as the
Heliocentric Theory, or Model. While astronomers like Aristarchus believed in
Heliocentrism, there were other astronomers who thought that the Earth was at the center
of the Universe and that the Sun and other planets rotated around it. This is, by the way,
known as the Geocentric Theory. Geocentricism was a religious thought or a theory and
it made people believe in it more than the Heliocentric Theory.
Now, going back to Copernicus. Nicolaus Copernicus was the first person who had
accurate information and evidence that the Earth rotates around the Sun (Heliocentric)
instead of Earth being at the center of Universe (Geocentric). From all the ancient
astronomers work and notes, Copernicus was able to use them and go further on with the
research.





Questions and Answers:

1. What are the Geocentric and Heliocentric theories?

There were a few theories to the reason why we think that the Earth moves. Two of
those theories are the Geocentric and Heliocentric theories. The Geocentric Theory is
the model where the Sun moves around a stationary Earth.This means that the Sun
moves around the Earth instead of Earth moving around the Sun. So, that means that
the Earth is at the center of the Universe if the Sun is revolving around the Earth. The
Heliocentric Theory, however, is totally different from the Geocentric Theory. The
Heliocentric Theory is about how the Earth moves around the Sun. In this case, the Sun
is the center of the Solar System if the Earth, and other planets which are not
mentioned but are there, rotate around it (the Sun). The Heliocentric Theory is the
complete opposite of the Geocentric Theory.








2. Why did we believe the Geocentric Theory, why did we believe it so strongly and for
so long?
We believed in the Geocentric Theory for quite a long time. The Geocentric Theory, as
mentioned in question number one, is about how the Sun moves around Earth, which is
at the center of the universe. Many people thought that the Sun moved around the Earth
other than the other way around. Some people today still believe in geocentricism.
Though most (or like the majority) of the people believe Earth to be rotating around the
Sun. Geocentricism is actually a religious thought and that is the reason to why people
think that the Earth is at the center of the universe. Geocentricism was taught to many
people which caused them to believe and go against Heliocentrism. Those who value in
religious teachings and Churches a lot, believed in the Geocentric Theory very strongly.