Foucault's pendulum
http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/lessons.php?DocID=180
A lesson plan for grades 9–12 Science
In this Science NetLinks lesson, students will explore the About Foucault Pendulums website from the California Academy of Sciences. There, they will learn how the scientist Jean Foucault was able to prove that the earth rotates by building and observing the motion of a pendulum. Students will answer questions from the accompanying worksheet based on their reading. They will then write an explanation of how a Foucault pendulum proves that the earth rotates.
This plan contains advanced mathematical concepts.
North Carolina Curriculum Alignment
Science (2005)
Grade 9–12 — Earth/Environmental Science
- Goal 6: The learner will acquire an understanding of the earth in the solar system and its position in the universe.
- Objective 6.02: Analyze planetary motion and the physical laws that explain that motion:
- Rotation.
- Revolution.
- Apparent diurnal motions of the stars, sun and moon.
- Effects of the tilt of the earth's axis.
- Objective 6.02: Analyze planetary motion and the physical laws that explain that motion:
Grade 9–12 — Physical Science
- Goal 2: The learner will construct an understanding of forces and motion.
- Objective 2.01: Measure and mathematically/graphically analyze motion:
- Frame of reference (all motion is relative - there is no motionless frame).
- Uniform motion.
- Acceleration.
- Objective 2.01: Measure and mathematically/graphically analyze motion:
Grade 9–12 — Physics
- Goal 4: The learner will develop an understanding of forces and Newton's Laws of Motion.
- Objective 4.01: Determine that an object will continue in its state of motion unless acted upon by a net outside force (Newton's First Law of Motion, The Law of Inertia).
- Objective 4.03: Assess, measure, and calculate the relationship among the force acting on a body, the mass of the body, and the nature of the acceleration produced (Newton's Second Law of Motion).
