Foucult Pendulum
Foucult Pendulum
Foucult Pendulum
Pendulum
Anthony J. Hibbs
University of Warwick
October 2, 2010
1 Introduction
This experiment tells us that the Earths surface is not an inertial frame of
reference, that is a frame which is either at rest or moving with a constant
velocity in a particular direction, with no external forces applied. In rotating
frames of reference, such as on the surface of the Earth, the velocity of the
frame is constantly changing direction. It is this that, in the case of the
pendulum, causes it to appear as though angular momentum is not conserved
and Newtons laws are not obeyed. As observed from a position at rest in
1
space (an inertial frame) however, one would see that angular momentum is
in fact conserved and Newtons laws are obeyed.
One may expect that the best way to treat this problem would be to
analyse the mechanics from an inertial frame of reference. In actual fact it
is somewhat less complicated to instead use a non-inertial rotating frame
fixed to the Earths surface. In order to do this, we must find a way of
translating from the inertial to the non-inertial frames and care must be
taken when considering vectors, in particular their time derivatives, as will
become apparent.
3 Rotating Frames
v = r. (1)
dx
= x. (2)
dt Figure 1: The directions
of the x, y and z axes at
Thus for unit vectors i, j and k, directed along
a point on the Earths sur-
the x (east), y (north) and z (upwards) axes
face with latitude .
fixed on the Earths surface (see figure 1), we
have
di dj dk
= i, = j and = k. (3)
dt dt dt
2
Now consider the position vector of a particle in this coordinate system,
r = rx i + ry j + rz k. (4)
Note that the origin of the coordinate system here (where r = 0) is at the
centre of the Earth. The rate of change of this vector will be measured
differently by an observer in an inertial frame, as compared to an observer
standing on the Earths surface. We shall use V to denote the rate of change
of r as measured by the inertial observer and v and r to denote the rate of
change of r as measured by the non-inertial observer on the Earths surface.
The rates of change of scalar quantities, i. e. the derivatives of rx , ry and
rz , will always be measured to be the same by both observers. According to
the non-inertial observer on the Earths surface, the directions of the unit
vectors are constant in time, so
drx dry drz
v = r = i+ j+ k. (5)
dt dt dt
For the inertial observer, however, the directions of the unit vectors are
varying in time, so we have
drx dry drz di dj dk
V= i+ j+ k + rx + ry + rz
dt dt dt dt dt dt
= r + r, (6)
from equations 3 and 4. Applying the same formula, the rate of change of
V as measured by the inertial observer is
dV
A= = V + V, (7)
dt
where V is the rate of change of V as measured by the non-inertial observer.
From equation 6,
V = r + r + r
and V = r + ( r).
Hence,
A = r + 2 r + ( r) + r. (8)
Newtons second law for a particle moving under the influence of gravity
plus an additional force F is
mA = mg + F, (9)
3
where we must consider the absolute acceleration A = dV/dt, since equation
9 holds only in inertial frames. (If one were to use V in place of A then
equation 9 would not be valid). g is a vector pointing towards the centre
of the Earth, with a magnitude equal to g ( 9.81 ms1 ). Substituting
equation 8 into 9 and rearranging, we obtain
mr = mg + F 2m r m ( r) m r. (10)
Let us delay our discussion of the Coriolis force and first focus on the cen-
trifugal force. This is a position dependent force, whereas the Coriolis force
is velocity dependent, which means that when any measurement is taken of
the acceleration due to gravity, what is actually measured is the effective
acceleration due to gravity,
4
At the equator ( = 0 ), the y component vanishes and the z component
has its maximum value, whereas at the poles ( = 90 ), both components
vanish. Thus the acceleration due to gravity will be measured to be less
at the equator than at the poles. This is compounded by the fact that the
radius of the Earth is less at the poles than at the equator, which incidentally
is due to the centrifugal force. The overall effect is that one weighs less at
the equator than at the poles, although for those readers interested in weight
loss, there are simpler and more cost-effective methods.
With our pendulum, we assume that the distance through which the bob
moves is small enough that the gravitational and centrifugal forces can be
treated as constant and we combine them together into a constant effective
acceleration due to gravity, geff . From equation 10, the equation of motion
now becomes
mr = mgeff + F 2m r. (15)
In our coordinate system with the unit vectors i, j and k, pointing east, north
and upwards respectively, the angular velocity of a point on the Earths
5
surface with latitude is
+ 2i sin + 02 = 0, (20)
q
where = rx + iry and 0 = geff /l is the natural angular frequency of the
oscillations, i. e. the frequency of simple harmonic oscillations in the absence
of the Coriolis force. Equation 20 resembles the equation of motion for a
damped pendulum, except for the imaginary damping term. We look for
solutions to this equation of the form = Aeit and substituting this into
equation 20 gives
2 + 2 sin 02 = 0
q
= sin 2 sin2 + 02 = sin 1 , (21)
6
q
where 1 = 2 sin2 + 02 0 since since the frequency of the rotation
of the Earth is much less than the frequency of oscillation of the pendulum
( 0 ). Hence the solution is