Foucault’s Pendulum in Indian Parliament

India’s new triangular-shaped parliament was inaugurated by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 28th 2023, who unveiled several new features and installations of the building compared to the old one.

Foucault’s pendulum was installed in the gallery section of the Constitution Hall.

The charge was taken by the National Council of Science Museums in Kolkata.

History

Foucault’s Pendulum was experimented by Leon Foucault in 1851 to demonstrate the Earth’s rotation. The one in India is one of its largest kinds with a weight of 36 kg and a height of 22 metres.

Once set in motion, the pendulum gradually changes its alignment over time; that is, if it is swinging in a north-south direction, it will gradually shift towards the east-west direction. It gave unrestricted swinging.

The experiment stated that the pendulum doesn’t change its plane of motion, instead the ground beneath it does.

This shows that when aligned along the Earth’s axis at the North and South poles, the pendulum in 24 hours returns to its original position.

In the Northern Hemisphere, a Foucault pendulum always rotates clockwise, with a decreasing rate as its location gets closer to the Equator.The rotation rate depends on the latitude. At the Equator (0° latitude), a Foucault pendulum does not rotate, while in the Southern Hemisphere, the rotation is counterclockwise.

Why in Parliament? 

It takes the pendulum a total of 49 hours, 59 minutes, and 18 seconds to complete one full rotation. The pendulum demonstrates the rotation of the earth and signifies the idea of India with that of the universe.

The Foucault pendulum demonstrates the amalgamation of the idea of India and the idea of the cosmos.