Foucault pendulum

Foucault pendulum

n.

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.

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[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.

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

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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