You could exclude a lot of potential shapes, and by assuming certain smoothness between your sample positions narrow it down to a sphere.xaratustra said:
It's not about the altitude, but how densely they are spaced.xaratustra said:cool. then all pendula must be installed at the same altitude to guarantee smoothness.
xaratustra said:
A Foucault pendulum is a device invented by French physicist Léon Foucault in 1851 to demonstrate the rotation of the Earth. It consists of a long pendulum suspended from a fixed point that swings in a constant direction due to the rotation of the Earth.
A Foucault pendulum works due to the Earth's rotation and the Coriolis effect. As the pendulum swings back and forth, the Earth rotates underneath it, causing the pendulum's direction of swing to appear to change. This effect is due to the Coriolis force, which is an inertial force that acts on objects in motion on a rotating surface.
A Foucault pendulum proves that the Earth is rotating on its axis. The pendulum's movement is only possible because of the Earth's rotation, and the direction of its swing changes in predictable ways that are consistent with the Earth's rotation. This was an important experiment in the 19th century that helped provide evidence for the theory of Earth's rotation.
Yes, the Earth's curvature does have an effect on the Foucault pendulum, but it is negligible. The pendulum's movement is primarily due to the Coriolis effect, and the Earth's curvature has a minimal impact on this force. However, the pendulum's motion may be affected by other factors such as air resistance, friction, and the pendulum's height and mass.
Not necessarily. While the Foucault pendulum can demonstrate the Earth's rotation, it does not directly prove the shape of the Earth. The pendulum's motion is consistent with both a round globe and a flat disk rotating underneath it. However, other evidence, such as satellite imagery and measurements from space, support the fact that the Earth is a round globe.