Foucault's pendulum

English 250px|thumb|right|Animation of the pendulum at the Pantheon in Paris, with the Earth's rotation rate greatly exaggerated. The green trace shows the path of the pendulum bob over the ground (a rotating reference frame), while in any vertical plane. The actual plane of swing appears to rotate relative to the Earth. The wire needs to be as long as possible. thumb|Foucault's pendulum Etymology From the name of the French physicist Léon Foucault Jean Bernard Léon Foucault. Noun A pendulum on a long wire, free to move in any direction; the plane of its motion appears to turn (clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere) as the world turns beneath it. Translations pendulum free to move in any direction Chinese: Mandarin: cmn 傅科擺 Fùkē bǎi Czech: cs Foucaultovo kyvadlo n Estonian: et Foucault' pendel Finnish: fi Foucaultin heiluri French: fr pendule de Foucault Georgian: ka ფუკოს ქანქარა German: de Foucaultsches Pendel n Hungarian: hu Foucault-inga Italian: it pendolo di Foucault m Japanese: ja フーコーの振り子 Fūkō no furiko Polish: pl Wahadło Foucaulta Russian: ru ма́ятник Фуко́ Ukrainian: uk ма́ятник Фуко́ m See also Words from Foucault's Pendulum (a novel) Anagrams en acdefllmnopstuuuu Foucault pendulums en eponyms