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 determines when the Earth's rotation will be observable and only if the "z"-component is not balanced in the same direction on each side. The magnitude of the opposing component is proportional to how long it takes for one full turn of the Earth to be observed in relation to the plane of the pendulum. The length of time is a minimum of one day at the poles, increases from the pole to the equator, and is not visible at the equator (infinitely long). For any two points in the pendulum swing that are equidistant from the center of the swing