When a weight is hung from a string and pushed to one side, it will swing from side to side in a regular way.  This is oscillation and such a simple device, called a pendulum, provides a method of timekeeping because its oscillations are very regular.  The number of times that a particular pendulum swings each second, called its frequency, is always the same, provided the swing is small.

Leon Foucault is best known for using a pendulum to demonstrate the rotation of the Earth.  In 1851 he suspended a very large iron ball by a long steel wire from the centre of the dome of the Pantheon in Paris.  When the pendulum was first released it swung along a line marked on the floor beneath it, but after several hours the pendulum appeared to have changed direction.  In fact, Foucault’s pendulum was still swinging in the same direction – it was the Earth below the pendulum that had turned.  Therefore Foucault proved that the fact that the Earth in fact spun on an invisible axis.

Here at Kesteven and Sleaford High School we are looking forward to developing our own unique Foucault Pendulum in the foyer of the Cattermole building which will be set to swing exactly 156 years after Foucault’s original pendulum on 31^st March 1851.  The ball is going to be made out of glass suspended on a wire hung from the ceiling and motorized to maintain a constant motion.  The ball will swing just above the heads of those entering the building protected by a mesh gauze suspended at head height and the floor will be interactive with the pendulum’s swing.

The glass walls of the foyer will be designed to impart information about the pendulum, it’s history and science, and will be decorated using images from space uniting science and the arts in the special and inventive feature that is hoped will be an attraction for the whole community of Sleaford and beyond.