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 would not be observable in relation to the pendulum swing with this type of connection. At the equator the rotation of the Earth is not observable in relation to the pendulum swing because the plane of the pendulum swing is moving along with the rotation of the Earth and no net change in relationship occurs. It is shown by the diagrams that the surface velocity vectors of the Earth underneath the swing of the pendulum are either balanced in the same direction or included within the same plane as the pendulum swing. For the equatorial pendulum with a swing in