Most physics teachers have observed the majestic swings of a monumental pendulum at a science museum and have watched long enough to see the plane of oscillation slowly changing direction as Earth turns. The purpose of this article is to describe visits to Paris sites related to Jean Bernard Léon Foucault (1819-1868), with a special focus on the locations where he first developed and then demonstrated the apparatus now known as the Foucault pendulum.
References
1.
Stephen T.
Thornton
and Jerry B.
Marion
, Classical Dynamics of Particles and Systems
, 5th ed. (Brooks/Cole, Belmont, CA
, 2004
), pp. 404
–407
. The day that appears in the sine law is the sidereal day of about 23 hours 56 minutes, which is the time for the Earth to rotate once relative to the frame of the distant stars.2.
John R.
Taylor
, Classical Mechanics
(University Science Books
, Sausalito, CA
, 2005
), pp. 354
–357
.3.
Scott
Beutlich
, Shannon
Hughes
, John
Lewis
, Josh
Ravenscraft
, Diane
Riendeau
, and Jay
Walgren
, “Taking advantage of opportunities
,” Phys. Teach.
45
, 200
(April
2007
).4.
Duane S.
Nickell
, “A physics teacher in Europe
,” Phys. Teach.
41
, 104
–108
(Feb.
2003
).5.
Thomas B.
Greenslade
Jr., “Apparatus named after our academic ancestors—V
, ” Phys. Teach.
59
, 236
–238
(April
2021
).6.
Léon
Foucault
, Recueil des travaux scientifiques de Léon Foucault
(Gauthier-Villars
, Paris
, 1878
), p. 378
. This 1878 collection quotes Foucault’s handwritten note, which can be translated as: “Wednesday, January 8, at 2:00 a.m.: the pendulum turned in the direction of the diurnal motion of the celestial sphere.” The date of the first successful observation is sometimes given incorrectly as 2:00 a.m. on January 6, 1851 (see Ref. 8, p. 5). But in 1851, January 6 was a Monday, while January 8 (the correct date) was a Wednesday.7.
At the main page of https://vr.visite360pro.com/, select “Observatoire de Paris, visite à 360° du bâtiment Perrault” and then navigate to “Salle Cassini” to see the windows and high ceilings of the Meridian Hall with the Paris meridian line marked on the floor.
8.
Amir D.
Aczel
, Pendulum: Léon Foucault and the Triumph of Science
(Atria Books
, New York
, 2003
).9.
William J.
Tobin
, The Life and Science of Léon Foucault: The Man Who Proved the Earth Rotates
(Cambridge University Press
, Cambridge, UK, and New York
, 2003
).10.
“
Foucault Pendulums
,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Foucault_pendulums.© 2021 American Association of Physics Teachers.
2021
American Association of Physics Teachers
AAPT members receive access to The Physics Teacher and the American Journal of Physics as a member benefit. To learn more about this member benefit and becoming an AAPT member, visit the Joining AAPT page.