COSEE Ocean Systems: News
How Does Foucault's Pendulum Prove the Earth Rotates?
Description: On February 3, 1851,a 32-year-old Frenchman--who'd dropped out of medical school and dabbled in photography--definitively demonstrated that the earth rotated, surprising the Parisian scientific establishment. Acting on a hunch, Leon Foucalt had determined that he could use a pendulum to illustrate the effect of the Earth's movement. He called together agroup of scientists, enticing them with a note declaring, "You are invited to see the Earth turn." Foucalt hung a pendulum from the ceiling of the Meridian Room of the Paris Observatory. As it swept through the air, it traced a pattern that effectively proved the world was spinning about an axis. [Source: The Smithsonian]
URL: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/how-does-foucaults-pendulum-prove-earth-rotates-180968024/
Availability: Full Text
Source: The Smithsonian
Publish Date: 2/15/2018
Reading Level: Basic
Page Length:  

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