Part 3/9:
The Experiment That Settled the Argument
Newton dispelled these philosophical notions through empirical evidence derived from his bucket experiment. He presented a straightforward, physical experiment that anyone could replicate, illustrating observable effects of motion and thus establishing a clearer understanding of physical reality.
In this experiment, one takes a bucket filled with water, suspending it by a rope from a fixed point and then spinning it. Initially, the water remains flat as it shares the state of rest with the bucket. However, as the bucket spins, the surface of the water begins to curve, providing observable evidence of motion that is not simply a function of relative positions.