Foucault Pendulum

Foucault Pendulum A Foucault pendulum is an experiment that demonstrates the earth's rotation. Tikkanen (2020) defines a Foucault pendulum as a large mass on a long line suspension, mounted on an object. The perpendicular plane of swing of the pendulum is not restricted to a specific direction.

Moreover, the pendulum's rotation is similar to that of the earth. French physicist Jean-BernardLéon Foucault was the first to experiment to prove the truth behind the earth's rotation.

According to Eco (2004), the Foucault pendulum outcome is powerful, accessible, and clear to both scientists and non-scientists. Thus, the Foucault pendulum delivers all the science aspect that an instructor may need for an instructional experiment.

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FOUCAULT PENDULUM2 According to Ault (2018), Leon Foucault used a pendulum to show that the earth rotates and its movements' effect. The Frenchman hung a pendulum from the ceiling of the Paris Observatory Meridian room. As the pendulum moved through the air, it resulted in a pattern that Foucault used to prove the earth spinning about its axis. Even though the idea that the world moved was not new when Foucault experimented with it, his experiment using a pendulum acted as proof. Thus, the Frenchman cleared the doubts that had lasted in people's minds by demonstrating it merely that anyone could understand. Ault (2018) reported that when Foucault his experiment with other scientists using a 61-pound brass bob on a 220-foot cable, the bob traced lines in the sand on a wooden platform. With time, the lines changed angles that indicated the pendulum’s direction of travel changed due to the effect of rotational motion, similar to that of the earth.

The movement of objects around the earth that make them appear to be moving in curves rather than straight lines depends on the Coriolis force. Hence, the Coriolis Effect. Just like the planet and its rotation, the Foucault pendulum demonstrated the Coriolis force, where it had a long damping rate to enable the observation of its oscillation’s precession after several minutes. The force responsible for the Foucault pendulum's precession is due to non-inertial dimensions; it is the centrifugal and Coriolis forces. Since the pendulum’s direction of travel changed due to the effect of rotational motion, similar to that of the earth, scientists relate this phenomenon to the Coriolis Effect results. Thus, a Foucault pendulum is used to demonstrate the Coriolis Effect.

FOUCAULT PENDULUM3 References Ault, A. (2018). How Does Foucault's Pendulum Prove the Earth Rotates? Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 31 October 2020, from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/how-does-foucaultspendulum-prove-earth-rotates-180968024/.

Eco, U. (2004). Foucault's Pendulum. Retrieved 31 October 2020, from https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Italian_Studies/n2k/visibility/Alison_Errico/Soft %20Moon/pendulum.html Tikkanen, A. (2020). Foucault pendulum | physics. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 31 October 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/science/Foucault-pendulum.