pendulum: Quick Facts

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Photos and Videos

Foucault pendulum with a gold sphere suspended above a circular numbered ring, set on a patterned floor in the Pantheon, Paris, with classical statues and columns behind.

A diagram of a simple pendulum showing a mass labeled M suspended by a string of length L from a fixed point, with the pendulum displaced at an angle theta from the vertical and an arc indicating its swing path.

Diagram of an anchor escapement mechanism showing a pendulum attached to pallets that interact with an escape wheel, illustrating how this system regulates time in pendulum clocks.

Diagram of a pendulum clock with labeled internal components, including the pendulum, driving weight, barrel, gears, anchor, pallet, escape wheel, and the clock face showing the hour, minute, and second hands.

oscillation of a pendulum

How does a simple pendulum work?

The law of conservation of energy explained

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Topics

compound pendulum physical pendulum simple pendulum spherical pendulum bob ballistic pendulum Kater’s pendulum Schuler pendulum Foucault pendulum gravity simple machine Wheel wheel and axle lever pulley inclined plane wedge gravimeter radiation measurement particle accelerator

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Key People

Galileo

Galileo

Italian natural philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician

Christiaan Huygens

Christiaan Huygens

Dutch scientist and mathematician

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Marin Mersenne

French mathematician