Foucalt's Pendulum

[msdoran]

I thought the inclusion of the Foucalt's pendulum was very interesting at the end of the episode with the mysterious Ms. Hawkings. I have always been fascinated by the Foucalt pendulum at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, and the fact that it remains still while the earth turns (though I still, years later, don't completely grasp the concept of how that could be).

So, it appears that through the use of the pendulum they are able to determine when the island is going to pop up. What I noticed on Sledge's blown up still shots that I did not notice watching last night was the map on the floor, and that there were also stars made on the Atlantic Ocean on the East Coast of Florida, and not just in the Pacific.

It does appear that the island is indeed jumping not only in time and space, but also in location, it is almost as if the Island itself is a Foucalt Pendulum and able to remain stationary as the Earth revolves around it.

Thoughts?

[Max'sMom]

There is one @ COSI,a children's museum in Columbus, that I grew up going to.

I've tried to compare the map on her monitor to a map of the Vile Vortices, but I don't see a clear correlation.

[this is some crazy stuff]

To me it looked like it was marking the locations that the island can go to.  And it marked the spots that were more praubable more times.  Since the spot it was marking in the scene was the biggest lines and the most lines crossing at the specific point.

[BobBX542]

Look, I'm going to be honest about this, I have no idea what the Foucalt's Pendulum is, I just thought it was a really cool way to reveal Miss Hawkings. Could someone explain what the pendulum is?? In real life, not on the show. If we knew what it was on the show, we would probably ruin a whole lot for ourselves.

[Max'sMom]

From my museum site-

Foucault Pendulum
The Foucault Pendulum is a demonstration of a fact that we take for granted: the Earth rotates!  Every day, Columbus, Ohio revolves around the Earth at 790 mph.  As the Earth moves, it carries COSI with it, and COSI carries the pendulum.  When you watch the swinging pendulum over time, it will appear to travel around the base.  In reality, the pendulum is always swinging in the same plane.  It is the Earth’s rotation under the pendulum that causes this illusion.

COSI's Foucault Pendulum shows visitors our recreation of French physicist Jean Foucault's experiment to prove the Earth's rotation on its axis.  Knowing Newton's first law of motion that an object that is free from all outside forces travels at a constant velocity along a straight line path, the only way for the pendulum to trace out the path along the circle is for the Earth to rotate under the pendulum.

This pendulum knocks steel balls from their resting place as the pendulum sweeps out the circular path.  The balls are set so two will be struck about every fifteen minutes.

http://www.cosi.org/visitors/exhibits/hallway/pendulum/

Please don't take offense that I'm sharing a children's site with you.  hehehee  There's even an @ home activity.  

[Jungle Otter]

There is also one at the Franklin Institute. It has little pegs around the pendulm which get knocked over at regular intervals, rather cool 

[Suzanne4Auburn]

that thing was sweet

[BobBX542]

From my museum site-

Foucault Pendulum
The Foucault Pendulum is a demonstration of a fact that we take for granted: the Earth rotates!  Every day, Columbus, Ohio revolves around the Earth at 790 mph.  As the Earth moves, it carries COSI with it, and COSI carries the pendulum.  When you watch the swinging pendulum over time, it will appear to travel around the base.  In reality, the pendulum is always swinging in the same plane.  It is the Earth’s rotation under the pendulum that causes this illusion.

COSI's Foucault Pendulum shows visitors our recreation of French physicist Jean Foucault's experiment to prove the Earth's rotation on its axis.  Knowing Newton's first law of motion that an object that is free from all outside forces travels at a constant velocity along a straight line path, the only way for the pendulum to trace out the path along the circle is for the Earth to rotate under the pendulum.

This pendulum knocks steel balls from their resting place as the pendulum sweeps out the circular path.  The balls are set so two will be struck about every fifteen minutes.

http://www.cosi.org/visitors/exhibits/hallway/pendulum/

Please don't take offense that I'm sharing a children's site with you.  hehehee  There's even an @ home activity.  

No offense taken. In fact, with the sheer amount of ease that you guys were talking about it, I kind of felt like a child for a minute there. LOL

There is also one at the Franklin Institute. It has little pegs around the pendulm which get knocked over at regular intervals, rather cool 

I know what you're talking about now. I just had no idea that's what it was. I'm like 15 minutes south of Philly. I've seen that thing dozens of times.

[TheGoodPeople]

there's one in the Griffith Observatory in L.A. it draws lines in a gigantic zen garden type thing. or at least it did when i was still there

[JBRam]

Wiki link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foucault_pendulum

[BobBX542]

okay, so now that I understand what this thing is, how is it that it relates to the island?? Or is that what this whole thread is about in the first place?? LOL

[Staggerlee]

cool



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nB2SXLYwKkM

[Max'sMom]

okay, so now that I understand what this thing is, how is it that it relates to the island?? Or is that what this whole thread is about in the first place?? LOL

Madam P concisely stated it in another thread.

To quote her eloquence....

The Island is moving in time & space.  This was shown by the Beechcraft @ the beginning & then Ms. Hawking's calculations @ the end.

Are we absolutely sure?  I mean, if the island was the one thing that stayed put while time moved, then the space beneath/around the island would move just by virtue of the Earth's rotation as time goes by. 

That probably makes no sense.  It does in my head, for just a minute, once in awhile... LOL.

[Staggerlee]

and too remember Mssr. Faraday's comment about them being within the island's radius/perimeter whilst they are on the dingy....

[hyperform]

There is one @ COSI,a children's museum in Columbus, that I grew up going to.

I've tried to compare the map on her monitor to a map of the Vile Vortices, but I don't see a clear correlation.

Ohio! Represent!

I went there for many school trips too