eli5: how Foucault pendulum works
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It “works” just like any pendulum. An initial force pushes the pendulum up on one side, gravity pulls it back down and its momentum carries it back up the other side. Eventually friction will cause it to lose momentum and become still again, so some sort of continuing force will be necessary to keep it in motion.
Foucault used pendulums to demonstrate the rotation of the Earth. The Earth is rotating under the Pendulum. So when it swings from side to side it will cross over different parts of the ground since the ground is moving relative to the pendulum.
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