-
Image 1 Caption:
An animation
of a Foucault pendulum
showing the
counterclockwise
rotation
of its plane of
oscillation
(which effectively sweeps out a cone)
in the Southern Hemisphere.
The animation
is time-lapsed:
an actual rotation period
is longer than a
sidereal day = 86164.0905 s
= 1 day - 4 m + 4.0905s (on average).
- An image of
Leon Foucault (1819--1868) is in the
background of the animation.
Foucault
used a Foucault pendulum
(which he did NOT invent) to
demonstrate the
Earth's rotation
relative to the fixed stars
in 1851
(see Wikipedia:
Leon Foucault: Middle years;
Wikipedia: Pantheon:
Under Louis Philippe I, the Second Republic and Napoleon III (1830-1871)).
The Foucault pendulum was
a huge one in the
dome of the
Pantheon
in Paris.
Online notes suggest this animation is not accurate.
-
Images:
- Credit/Permission: Dominique Toussaint
(AKA User:DemonDeLuxe),
2006 /
CC BY-SA 3.0.
Image link: Wikimedia Commons: File:Foucault pendulum animated.gif.
File: Mechanics file: pendulum_foucault.html.