Foucault pendulum

A simple pendulum suspended from a long wire and set into motion along a meridian. The plane of motion appears to turn clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Southern Hemisphere, demonstrating the axial rotation of the earth.

[After Jean Bernard Léon Foucault.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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Noun

Foucault pendulum - pendulum with a long wire; can swing in any direction; the change in the swing plane demonstrates the earth's rotation

pendulum - an apparatus consisting of an object mounted so that it swings freely under the influence of gravity

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References in periodicals archive

The full-dome planetarium and two-story Foucault pendulum make this museum a true place of discovery.

DIG UP SOME HISTORY IN ALPENA

The donation will fund a Foucault Pendulum for the college's planetarium, which is expected to be completed in the fall of 2018.

The Orange Coast College Foundation has received a gift of $1 million from retired Spanish Professor Mary McChesney

Precise underground observations of the partial solar eclipse of 1 June 2011 using a Foucault pendulum and a very light torsion balance.

Unexplained oscillations in deflection angle fluctuations of a novel type of torsion balance

The shape of the tower follows oscillating movements as that of the Foucault pendulum. The motions are noted in real time intervals and recorded in three dimensions thus defining the shape of the tower.

Iconic tower lights up Abu Dhabi skyline

At first sight, the spherical pendulum with rotating pivot center and Foucault pendulum are two vastly different dynamic systems.

3 DOF spherical pendulum oscillations with a uniform slewing pivot center and a small angle assumption

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