Morris Odell wrote:
Hi all,
I have been asked to help with the construction of a Foucault pendulum. This
is a long pendulum which oscillates in a slow stately fashion in a fixed
plane which appears to move as the earth rotates. In reality the surrounding
environment is really moving relative to the plane of oscillation.
The pendulum requires a sustaining system to compensate for the inevitable
energy loss with each swing. The system is located in the building and
therefore rotates relative to the pendulum. It needs to provide an impulse
which does not affect the plane of oscillation of the pendulum. I was
thinking of an electromagnet located below the centre of the swing which
would be pulsed appropriately as the bob passes over it.
Has anyone here had any experience with such a system of have any
suggestions regarding the sustaining system? This is an interesting and
challenging project.
Google should be your friend. This is a pretty standard thing, and I
recall seeing drawings of optical schemes with phototubes to detect when
the wire passes through vertical (and triggering the pulse through the
electromagnet below the bob).
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