Blackburn pendulum

Okay kiddo, so a Blackburn pendulum is a fancy science tool that helps us understand how the Earth moves. Picture a long rope hanging from the ceiling with a weight at the bottom. This weight is divided into two halves - a heavy one and a light one.

When the pendulum is first set to swing, it appears to be moving back and forth in the same direction. But over time, something cool happens! The swing of the pendulum slowly rotates in a circular pattern, while still swinging back and forth.

The reason this happens is because the heavy half of the weight pulls harder against gravity than the lighter half. This makes the pendulum swing back and forth at a slight angle. But the Earth is actually rotating beneath the pendulum while it swings, which makes it seem like the pendulum is actually moving in a circle instead of just back and forth.

Scientists use Blackburn pendulums to study the rotation of the Earth and the speed of its movement. Pretty cool, huh?