5 Apr
2001
5 Apr
'01
11:57 a.m.
I just ran across a reference to synchronized pendula in the latest "Wired"
magazine (March 2001, p. 58). I did a search for the work the article
mentions, which lead to the following site:
http://www.gtalumni.org/news/magazine/spr97/rhythms.html. The following is
from this site:
"The phenomenon was described in 1665 by the Dutch physicist Christiaan
Huygens, who placed two pendulum clocks side by side on a wall. Within a
short time, the pendulums were swinging in perfect synchrony. He altered the
movement of one pendulum, but within a half hour the swinging weights had
regained synchrony. When one of the clocks was moved to another wall, they
gradually fell out of step."
Robert A. Feldman
Robert_Feldman(a)jdedwards.com