 M.L. Foucault was experimenting and noticed that a steel rod he had on a nearby lathe would oscillate in a plane that resulted from the initial force. This led Foucault to develop his famous pendulum experiment.
The theory is simple, given a perfect setting (e.g. no friction), a suspension pendulum will oscillate in a constant path. However, as the earth rotates, that path appears to change. In reality, what is changing is the world about the pendulum. After a twenty-four hour period, the pendulum would again appear to travel the path it first set.
This is significant. If the pendulum indeed travels in a straight path and we see changes, then we know the earth is actually spinning. Theoretically, after twenty-four hours, the pendulum will once again swing in the path it first began. The reality of the experiment is that it does not reach that path after twenty-four hours. Why?
importance of the pins
graphing activity
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