Foucault Pendulums Does NOT Prove Earths Rotation In the mid 19th century a Frenchman named Léon Foucault became famous for swinging pendulums and claiming their consequent motions were proof positive of the Earth’s diurnal rotation. Since then so-called “Foucault Pendulums” have regularly been swinging at museums and exposition halls worldwide purporting to provide everlasting perpetual proof of the heliocentric spinning ball-Earth theory. The truth is, however, unbeknownst to most of the duped public, that Foucault’s pendulum was a failed experiment which proved nothing but how easy it is for pseudo-science to deceive the malleable masses. To begin with, Foucault’s pendulums do not uniformly swing in any one direction. Sometimes they rotate clockwise and sometimes counter-clockwise, while other times they fail to rotate or they rotate far too much. Scientists who have repeated variations of the experiment have conceded time and again that “it was difficult to avoid giving the pendulum some slight lateral bias at starting.” The behavior of the pendulum actually depends on 1) the initial force beginning its swing and, 2) the ball-and-socket joint used which most-readily facilitates circular motion over any other. In fact, the majority of Foucault’s Pendulums in operation today are not even based on this design and are instead electrically powered and fully adjustable. The supposed rotation of the Earth is completely inconsequential and irrelevant to the pendulum’s swing. If the alleged constant rotation of the Earth affected pendulums in any way, then there should be no need to manually start pendulums in motion. Furthermore, if the Earth’s alleged rotation actually caused the 360 degree uniform diurnal rotation of pendulums, then there should not exist a single stationary pendulum anywhere on Earth!
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in the mid 19th century a frenchman
named leon foucault became famous for swinging pendulums and claiming their consequent motions were proof positive of the earth’s diurnal rotation since then so-called foucault pendulums have regularly been swinging at museums and exposition halls worldwide purporting to provide everlasting perpetual proof of the heliocentric spinning ball earth theory the truth is however unbeknownst to most of the duped public that foucault’s pendulum was a failed experiment which proved nothing but how easy it is for pseudoscience to deceive the malleable masses to begin with foucault’s pendulums do not uniformly swing in any one direction sometimes they rotate clockwise and sometimes counterclockwise while other times they fail to rotate or they rotate far too much scientists who have repeated variations of the experiment have conceded time and again that quote it was difficult to avoid giving the pendulum some slight lateral bias at starting the behavior of the pendulum actually depends on one the initial force beginning its swing and two the ball and socket joint used which most readily facilitates circular motion over any other in fact the majority of foucault’s pendulums in operation today are not even based on this design and are instead electrically powered and fully adjustable the supposed rotation of the earth is completely inconsequential and irrelevant to the pendulum swing if the alleged constant rotation of the earth affected pendulums in any way then there should be no need to manually start pendulums in motion furthermore if the earth’s alleged rotation actually caused the 360 degree uniform diurnal rotation of pendulums then there should not exist a single stationary pendulum anywhere on earth dr samuel robotham wrote first when a pendulum constructed according to the plan of mr foucault is allowed to vibrate its plane of vibration is often variable not always the variation when it does occur is not uniform is not always the same in the same place nor always the same either in its rate or velocity or in its direction it cannot therefore be taken as evidence for that which is inconsistent cannot be used in favor of or against any given proposition it therefore is not evidence and proves nothing secondly if the plane of vibration is observed to change where is the connection between such change and the supposed motion of the earth what principle of reasoning guides the experimenter to the conclusion that it is the earth which moves underneath the pendulum and not the pendulum which moves over the earth thirdly why was not the peculiar arrangement of the point of suspension of the pendulum specially considered in regard to its possible influence upon the plane of oscillation was it not known or was it overlooked or was it in the climax of theoretical revelry ignored that a ball and socket joint is one which facilitates circular motion more readily than any other and lady blunt wrote we believe with all due difference to the pendulum and its proprietor that it proves nothing but the craftiness of the inventor and we can only describe the show and showmen as deceptions a thing so childish as this pendulum proof that it can only be described as one of the most simple and ridiculous attempts to gull the public that has ever been conceived it has been said that the pendulum experiment proves the rotation of the earth but this is quite impossible for one pendulum turns one way and sometimes another pendulum turns in the opposite direction now we ask does the earth rotate in opposite directions at different places at one in the same time we should like to know perhaps the experimenters will kindly enlighten us on this point if the earth had the terrible motions attributed to it there would be some sensible effects of such motions but we neither feel the motion see it nor hear it and how people can stand watching the pendulum vibrate and think they are seeing a proof of the motions of the earth almost passes comprehension they are however brought up to believe it and it is thought to be scientific to believe what the astronomers teach
My mechanical engineering lab class hung our own Foucault pendulum. We used a gimbal bearing, not a ball and socket joint. Nobody would use a ball and socket in that application, because they have high friction. Foucault pendulums in museums use pendulum motors to keep them swinging, but ours didn’t have one so it ran down after a couple of hours. But for over two hours it registered exactly the correct rotation expected for our latitude. Eric Dubay lied about that in the video. He also lied about the initial force controlling the eventual motion. We started ours the same way Foucault started his. The bob is held at the limit of its swing by a thread, and we burn the thread with a candle flame. No sideways force and no spin is applied to the bob by that mechanism.