Foucault Pendulum

An exploration of the Foucault pendulum to discover what drives its motion. First observe a 3-D Foucault pendulum like the one at your local science museum, university, or planetarium. The pendulum will move around the floor correctly for your latitude, knocking over pegs as the earth rotates beneath it.

Leave earth and go to an asteroid that also has a pendulum. Here you can see how the pendulum's motion is linked to the distant stars. Change the pendulum's latitude and rotation rate, and view the asteroid from different angles. Switch the frame of reference between the asteroid and the universe.

Learn about the Coriolis Effect by observing balls orbiting asteroids in different frames of reference.

Tap the map to see the locations of the world's Foucault pendulums. Tap a pin on the map to get driving or walking directions to a pendulum.

The latitude is displayed. If location services are on, your actual longitude and altitude are also displayed.