Foucault’s pendulum is a long, heavy simple pendulum designed to demonstrate that the Earth rotates. Léon Foucault first publicly demonstrated it in 1851 in the Panthéon in Paris (a 28 kg bob on a ~67 m wire). In an inertial frame the plane of oscillation stays fixed (by inertia). Because the Earth rotates beneath it, an observer on Earth sees the plane of swing slowly rotate (precess). It consists of a heavy bob (mass) suspended from a long, flexible wire. The key feature is that it is free to swing in any vertical plane (isotropic suspension). As the pendulum swings, the plane of oscillation appears to rotate relative to the ground. Hence, Foucault’s pendulum provides direct experimental evidence of the rotation of the Earth. Angular Velocity of Foucault’s Pendulum If the pendulum is situated at latitude \(\lambda\), the angular velocity of rotation of its plane of oscillation relative to the Earth is \[ \boxed{\omega...
Osm Physics by Ashish
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