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 with increasing latitude). The plane of the pendulum swing, however, is independent of the surface velocity vectors underneath the swing since there is only one point of connection. The point of connection is configured such that the plane of pendulum swing is free to swing in any direction in relation to the structure of the connection point. The pendulum swing at the poles remains aligned toward a star if not forced to rotate with the support. As a result, it is observable that the Earth turns underneath the plane of swing of the pendulum. The reason the rotation of the