Leaving my second Pixel Party at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, I couldn’t resist grabbing a quick shot of the Foucault Pendulum. Many thanks to the museum for allowing local photographers an evening to photograph their new exhibits. The museum continues to grow and offer extraordinary exhibits from around the world.

From http://www.hmns.org…

First exhibited in 1851 at the World’s Fair in Paris, the Foucault Pendulum (named after Jean Bernard Leon Foucault, the French physicist who invented it) is a visual demonstration of the Earth’s rotation.

Throughout the day, the direction of the pendulum’s swing appears to change. Actually the Earth is turning under the pendulum as it swings. At Houston’s latitude (30° N.) the pendulum will precess through 180° or halfway around each day. During this time, it will knock down all of the pins.