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Foucault's Gyroscope Experiment
The Foucault gyroscope was a gyroscope created by French physicist Léon Foucault in 1852, conceived as a follow-up experiment to his pendulum in order to further demonstrate the Earth's rotation Earth's rotation or Earth's spin is the rotation of planet Earth around its own Rotation around a fixed axis, axis, as well as changes in the orientation (geometry), orientation of the rotation axis in space. Earth rotates eastward, in progra .... Foucault felt that the results of his famous pendulum experiment had been misunderstood. He therefore endeavored to create an apparatus with a "body freely suspended by its center of gravity and rotating around one of its principal axes", allowing the study of a plane with "absolute directional stability".: "C'est faute d'avoir compris dans son acception véritable la fixité du plan d'oscillation, que beaucoup de personnes se sont fait, de la déviation, une idée inexacte, et ont méconnu sa valeur et son uniformité. Mais, si au plan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Foucault's Gyroscope
The Foucault gyroscope was a gyroscope created by French physicist Léon Foucault in 1852, conceived as a follow-up experiment to his pendulum in order to further demonstrate the Earth's rotation Earth's rotation or Earth's spin is the rotation of planet Earth around its own Rotation around a fixed axis, axis, as well as changes in the orientation (geometry), orientation of the rotation axis in space. Earth rotates eastward, in progra .... Foucault felt that the results of his famous pendulum experiment had been misunderstood. He therefore endeavored to create an apparatus with a "body freely suspended by its center of gravity and rotating around one of its principal axes", allowing the study of a plane with "absolute directional stability".: "C'est faute d'avoir compris dans son acception véritable la fixité du plan d'oscillation, que beaucoup de personnes se sont fait, de la déviation, une idée inexacte, et ont méconnu sa valeur et son uniformité. Mais, si au plan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gyroscope
A gyroscope (from Ancient Greek γῦρος ''gŷros'', "round" and σκοπέω ''skopéō'', "to look") is a device used for measuring or maintaining Orientation (geometry), orientation and angular velocity. It is a spinning wheel or disc in which the axis of rotation (spin axis) is free to assume any orientation by itself. When rotating, the orientation of this axis is unaffected by tilting or rotation of the mounting, due to the angular momentum#Conservation of angular momentum, conservation of angular momentum. Gyroscopes based on other operating principles also exist, such as the microchip-packaged Vibrating structure gyroscope#MEMS gyroscopes, MEMS gyroscopes found in electronic devices (sometimes called gyrometers), solid-state ring laser gyroscope, ring lasers, fibre optic gyroscopes, and the extremely sensitive quantum gyroscope. Applications of gyroscopes include inertial navigation systems, such as in the Hubble Space Telescope, or inside the steel hull of a submer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Léon Foucault
Jean Bernard Léon Foucault (, ; ; 18 September 1819 – 11 February 1868) was a French physicist best known for his demonstration of the Foucault pendulum, a device demonstrating the effect of Earth's rotation. He also made an early measurement of the speed of light, discovered eddy currents, and is credited with naming the gyroscope. Early years The son of a publisher, Foucault was born in Paris on 18 September 1819. After an education received chiefly at home, he studied medicine, which he abandoned in favour of physics due to a blood phobia. He first directed his attention to the improvement of Louis Daguerre's photographic processes. For three years he was experimental assistant to Alfred Donné (1801–1878) in his course of lectures on microscopic anatomy. With Hippolyte Fizeau he carried out a series of investigations on the intensity of the light of the sun, as compared with that of carbon in the arc lamp, and of lime in the flame of the oxyhydrogen blowpipe; on the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Foucault Pendulum
The Foucault pendulum or Foucault's pendulum is a simple device named after French physicist Léon Foucault, conceived as an experiment to demonstrate the Earth's rotation. If a long and heavy pendulum suspended from the high roof above a circular area is monitored over an extended period of time, its plane (geometry), plane of oscillation appears to change spontaneously as the Earth makes its 24-hourly rotation. This effect is greatest at the poles and diminishes with lower latitude until it no longer exists at Earth's equator. The pendulum was introduced in 1851 and was the first experiment to give simple, direct evidence of the Earth's rotation. Foucault followed up in 1852 with a Foucault's gyroscope experiment, gyroscope experiment to further demonstrate the Earth's rotation. Foucault pendulums today are popular displays in science museums and universities. History Foucault was inspired by observing a thin flexible rod on the axis of a lathe, which vibrated in the sam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Earth's Rotation
Earth's rotation or Earth's spin is the rotation of planet Earth around its own Rotation around a fixed axis, axis, as well as changes in the orientation (geometry), orientation of the rotation axis in space. Earth rotates eastward, in prograde motion. As viewed from the northern polar star Polaris, Earth turns counterclockwise. The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. This point is distinct from Earth's north magnetic pole. The South Pole is the other point where Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface, in Antarctica. Earth rotates once in about 24 hours with respect to the Sun, but once every 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds with respect to other distant stars (#Stellar and sidereal day, see below). Earth's rotation is slowing slightly with time; thus, a day was shorter in the past. This is due to the tidal acceleration, tidal effects ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul-Gustave Froment
Paul-Gustave Froment (born 3 March 1815 in Paris; died 1865) was a French mechanic, instrument maker and inventor. Life He was born in Paris and was educated at the Collège Sainte-Barbe and the Lycée Louis-le-Grand. Having demonstrated from childhood talent for technology, his father decided to let him study at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris. He later moved to Britain to continue his studies in Manchester. He was also one of the earliest photographers, working with the Direct Positive Process. On his return to France, his intention was to build steam engines but he was prevented from doing so by lack of funds. Instead, he opened a Paris workshop in 1844 where, among other things, he worked on a telegraph with written and keyboard signals, improved Gaetan Bonelli's electric loom, and helped William Hughes improve his early typewriter. He worked on several projects with Léon Foucault, most famously the Foucault pendulum for Foucault's 1851 demonstration. Other projects w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
