What does Galileo's discovery signify about the relationship between mass and fall speed?

Galileo's discovery fundamentally changed the understanding of how objects fall. He demonstrated through experimentation that all objects, regardless of their mass, fall at the same rate when air resistance is negligible. This means that in a vacuum, where there is no air to create drag, a heavier object does not fall faster than a lighter one; instead, they both accelerate towards the ground at the same rate due to gravity.

This principle is counterintuitive because everyday experience might suggest that heavier objects should fall faster. However, Galileo's experiments, which included dropping different weights from the Leaning Tower of Pisa and rolling balls down inclined planes, provided empirical evidence to support the idea that gravitational acceleration is constant for all objects.

Therefore, the understanding that all objects fall at the same rate, regardless of their mass, is foundational to classical mechanics and has been confirmed by subsequent experiments and observations, including those made in vacuum conditions.