Foucault pendulum Foucault pendulum The Foucault pendulum ( ; ) or Foucault's pendulum is a simple device named after French physicist Léon Foucault and conceived as an experiment to demonstrate the Earth's rotation. The pendulum was introduced in 1851 and was the first experiment to give simple, direct evidence of the earth's rotation. Today, Foucault pendulums are popular displays in science museums and universities. The first public exhibition of a Foucault pendulum took place in February 1851 in the Meridian of the Paris Observatory. A few weeks later, Foucault made his most famous pendulum when he suspended a 28-kg brass-coated lead bob
Foucault pendulum vector diagrams to the plane of the pendulum swing but the time to observe a full rotation depends on the latitude of the location. The time to observe a full rotation is equal to one day at the North Pole with the time increasing with decreasing latitude and not observable at the Equator (infinite length of time). The statements above are thus equivalent to the inverse sine law for the observed time for a full rotation of the pendulum in relation to the rotation of the Earth. Final Note: There is only one point of connection to the Earth for the swinging