1853] 



REPORT ON M. FOUCAULT'S PENDULUM EXPERIMENTS. 



The first observations were made on the night of the 13th 

 May, 1853, but were rejected from the cause mentioned above. 

 The observations recorded were made on the 14tb, 15th, 16th, 

 1 9th and 20th of the same month. The results are given in de- 

 tail in the tables. 



The first series of observations gives the angle actually moved 

 through in 47 h. IS m. (after applying the ""correction" for the 

 progression of the apse due to elliptic motion) only 1° 56' less 

 than that calculated. The second series gives an error of 2° 2' 

 in 23 h. 10 m. These errors may be represented in time by 

 about 9 and 1 2 minutes, and your committee consider that these 

 experiments agree so nearly with the calculation as to be . very 

 strong corroborative evidence of the correctness of theory that 

 the time taken by the plane of vibration to perform a complete 

 revolution, varies as the line of the latitude. 



It may not here be out of place to give a short explanation of 

 the accompanying tables: columns (1) & (2) refer to the times 

 of observation : (3) denotes the nature of. the ellipse showing 

 if there be no elliptic motion, or if elliptic motion, whether it is 



65 



progressing or retarding. Column (4) shows the angle observed 

 (5) the angle moved through, (6) the time between the observa- 

 tions and (7) the apparent error, (8) shows the angle corrected 

 tor elliptic motion, (9) the anode calculated, and (10) the differ- 

 ence+or— between the calculated angle and the corrected angle. 

 Your committee have great satisfaction in submitting the re- 

 sults of the different experiments. In some instances thev have 

 varied considerably from the calculated angles, but in all these, 

 the fact that the pendulum had acquired a corresponding elliptic 

 motion would seem to indicate some local cause of disturbance, 

 while in all the experiments in which there was no elliptic mo- 

 tion, the angles as nearly as could be measured were equal to 

 those calculated by theory. 



The whole respectfully submitted. 



A. NOBLE, 



Lt. R. A. & V. P. 

 W. DARLING CAMPBELL. 

 Qjebec, July 1853. 















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