SWINGING PENDULUM AND ROTATING EARTH

Scientist Focault made a pendulum using 200 foot long wire and 61 kg bob. He conducted an experiment using this pendulum in Paris. This large pendulum can swing for an hour before getting damped. He attached a pin at the bottom of the bob. The pin drew line in the wet sand spread on the floor. After an hour of swinging, focault observed, the line drawn on the sand rotated (tilted) by an angle of 11.25 degrees. How this happens? Let us examine.

When the heavy pendulum swings, the plane of swinging or the path of oscillation cannot get altered. While the pendulum swings strictly in one direction, the floor of the earth slowly rotates. Hence the direction of the line drawn by the pin on the floor slowly changes(tilts). After an hour, there is a observable change in the direction of the drawn line.

Focault measured the speed of rotation of the earth accurately by this experiment. This experiment finds a place in many science museum around the world.

Science update:
Swedish researchers made roses to observe a conducting polymer solution and turned them into super capacitor storing electrical energy.

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