On Being a Pendulum

 

RACHAEL AND MELVYN

On being a pendulum
February 2013

R. Did you know, Foucault’s pendulum was 67 metres long, and it always swings in the same direction in space?

M. Why should I? I’ve actually been a pendulum, oscillating in Simple Harmonic Motion.

R. That’s ridiculous!

M. No its not; I did a bungy jump off an old railway bridge into a canyon when I went to New Zealand, years ago. It was a bit like committing suicide, but you bounce back up and down a few times. They tie an elastic rope to your feet and rescue you in a rubber dinghy.

R. Do you believe him Barney? (Barney wags his tail) If you do, I suppose I must.

M. Aristotle said that love tried to drag falling objects into the centre of the world. Newton called it Gravity.

R. Then if everything is falling into the nearest heavenly body, why is the cosmos flying apart?

M. Good question. Newton thought there was another mysterious force acting on the heavenly bodies to counteract gravity. He called it Centrifugal Force, I believe.

R. How are these forces supposed to work?

M. I don’t know! They just do. Newton postulated them! They explain things! Nothing has been found that contradicts them!

R. Now you are getting angry. I will make the marmalade toasties this evening in case you start spilling things.

Colin Smith