Stationary pendulum experiment during the August 11 1999 solar eclipse over Europe my home page
Emails sent to Antonio Iovane by David Noever of NASA. - IP and email addresses have been slightly modified, see NOTE.
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*** This document contains a lot of useful links and references on the subject of eclipses and gravity ***
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To: "Antonio Iovane"
<iovane@tin.ot>
From:
"David Noever" <david.noever@msfc.naxa.gov>
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Subject:
Re: Pendulum and eclipse
>Dear
Dr. Noever, I've decided to make a simple experiment during the
>eclipse:
I will use an idle pendulum instead of an oscillating one, in
>order to check if some motion arises. I think that
it is difficult to
>exactly reproduce the Allais' experiment, due to the
plurality of
>involved
variables ( period of the pendulum, its
phase and direction of
>the
plan of oscillation at the moment of a
perturbating event; direction,
>duration
and strength of the perturbating force
). On the other hand,
>should
an idle pendulum get motion, it could be
easier to discriminate a
>perturbating
force. I've proposed this experiment on
an internet forum,
>and
we could have some idle pendulums waiting
for the eclipse. If you are
>non
disturbed, please let me know your opinion
and/or suggestions, if
>any.
Thanks for your attention. Regards, Antonio Iovane
Thanks for
your email,
This
response is far more than any single person would want to know about
the August
11 solar eclipse-gravity experiments. (Near the end, I attach
the July 2
Science article description).
I provide
this as background, and will provide more practical inputs: "when
and
where" table is all that is really needed here.
The various
explanations can be considered afterwards if there is anything
to explain.
The issue of
whether it is an advantage to be in the path of totatity for
the eclipse
(far NE America, Europe to Asia) is an open one, since it
hinges on
the resolution of the method used and the cause of any anomaly.
The
resolution is high enough for milli-Gal resolution certainly, and the
cause is
unknown.
I suppose
if forced to make a prediction, I would say that static (null)
gravimeters
will not show an effect (interesting in its own right) but that
dynamic
measurements (moving parts) may have some firm historical
precedents.
I'll
followup with time tables in detail and any additional notes about
operation.
Thanks
again for your interest in helping.
David
___________
For the simple pendulum (wire and ball, with two modes, one a vertical
swing, the other a horizontal rotation).
An 8-10 second period would have a predicted 13.5 degree excursion, which
is highly visible and persistent over the eclipse, even when (or
particularly because) the rotation itself is 10 degrees per hour from earth
rotation and Foucault effect. Note that prior to the World's Fair in Paris,
nobody thought that earth's rotation could ever be detected in this way,
which is why a demonstration was arranged.
The Foucault effect itself is 3 micro-G and considered an inspiration to
Mach's principle and inertial physics; and if true, the August 11 anomalies
for the eclipse would be consistent with previous reports in the range of 5
micro-G, so it is not trivial, either in its comparative value or in its
observational values (13.5 degree backward shift in angle of planar swing;
note this is clockwise turn seen from above in the N. Hemisphere and has
around 10 degrees per hour rotation at mid-latitudes; the period by
location is easy to calculate as [24 hours/sin (latitude)], so it is 24
hours approx. at the pole, and infinite at the equator).
As is, the signal to noise ratio was reported as 12.5 (sigma values,
uncertainties) or higher and coincident at least 4 different observational
years with the onset of the eclipse separated over at least a 17-30 year
span.
This 13.5 degree backward excursion in the angular plane persisted
throughout 2.5 hours of observations, repeated 3 times in 2 locations in
1954 and 1959 in France, repeated again in 1981 in Romania, repeated again
using a torsion pendulum in 1970 eclipse at Harvard, then also refuted in
1954 in Shetland, Scotland using static gravimeters, and in 1965 in
Trieste, and not observed in 1990 Finland eclipse using torsion pendulum.
You would have to go to Allais' 1988 Nobel autobiographical lecture to hear
the scientific challenge here: "During the total eclipses of the sun on
June 30, 1954, and October 22, 1959, quite analogous deviations of the
plane of oscillation of the paraconical pendulum were observed...With
regard to all these results as well as to their analysis I can make a
prediction..."
Well, good luck.
In an American J. of Physics (58, 530, 1990; G.T. Gillies) review, the
summary of Allais' work reads: "A physicist (who later won a Nobel prize in
economics) finds a gravitational anisotropy at the level of 5 micro-G.
(5x10^-6 G)."
Additional modern review article's opinion of the 6 notes in the French
Academy of Science (Allais, CRAS) and the followup Physical Review D
article (Saxl and Allen, confirming periodic changes in a torsion pendulum,
1970 eclipse in Boston):
"There is considerable interest in gravitation...but experiments are
difficult, and a great deal of work done in the past, some of it very
careful and still valuable, is rather inaccessible...the results of Allais,
and later, Saxl and Allen, are seldom discussed."
So we currently have the following datasets that could be coming in:
1) February 1999 eclipse data over S. Hemisphere (unanalyzed so far)
2) 4 gravimeters of similar high resolution in Abu Dabi, running along in
the path of totality
3) 1 gravimeter, Huntsville
4) 2 borehole gravimeters (Denver, Edcon)
5) 1 absolute gravimeter (falling mass, laser system; Micro-G Solutions,
Boulder)
If people also wants to take some measurements with a torsion balance, this
is the summary of how it has worked historically and some refinements.
If you want to see what one of these Foucault anomalies looks like on a
graph, you can also go to the Department of Physics, Univ. Guelph, site:
http://www.physics.uoguelph.ca/foucault6.html
As to the all important question of why?, consider how the observers put it.
The prevailing interpretation by the original experimenters were that:
1) Allais attributed effects to anisotropy in space itself (1997 with 750
page long French book titled "The Anisotropy of Space")
2) In a followup comment (1960), Flynt attributed the pendulum effects to
blocking solar radiation pressure, but with the subtlety of harmonic
effects because of the shifted coincidence between early onset of pendulum
changes and later trailing off during late stages of eclipse
3) Saxl and Allen (1971) attributed effects to fine structure and
gravitational wave detection, but conclude that these effects (as seen over
17 years at Harvard on a torsional balance) require a dynamic, moving test
mass to reveal any effects.
There is detailed geographic information on the path of totality for the
eclipse on August 11:
Try first at NASA/Goddard
http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/eclipse.html
and
http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/TSE1999/TSE1999.html
A small N. Atlantic segment is shown at:
http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast17jun99_1.htm
Nova Scotia is one of the earlier totality regions; NY itself may see at
dawn an approximate 30% coverage of the solar disk.
Note that the only two long-term Foucault pendulum observations are from K.
Onnes (discovered superconductivity, Nobel Physics, 1913, for mercury, and
later tin and lead) and M. Allais (eclipse anomaly, Nobel Economics, 1988).
Foucault himself although engaged in many spectacular demonstrations from
the 1851 World's Fair onwards, never published long-term raw data.
An interesting aside here on Onnes was that he was the student of Kirchhoff
(famous electrical circuit rules), and is credited with "theoretical as
well as experimental proof that Foucault's well-known pendulum experiment
should be considered as a special case of a large group of phenomena which
in a much simpler fashion can be used to prove the rotational movement of
the earth."
Onnes had a famous motto: "Door meten tot weten" (Knowledge through
measurement)
Allais' Challenge to the Scientific Community,
Maurice Allais' Nobel Autobiographical Lecture, 1988
"During the total eclipses of the sun on June 30, 1954, and October 22,
1959, quite analogous deviations of the plane of oscillation of the
paraconical pendulum were observed...With regard to all these results as
well as to their analysis I can make a prediction: if, without
interruption, for at least one month, in the same place and at the same
time, observations of the movement of the paraconical pendulum are made,
together with optical sightings such as those I made, as well as a
repetition of the Michelson-Morley (1887) and Miller (1925)
experiments.. it will be found that the effects observed by Miller in
1925 correspond to the anomalies in the movement of the paraconical
pendulum and the anomalies of the optical sightings which I observed."
Original sources were reported in six notes of the French Academy of
Sciences: C.R.A.S. 245, 1875; 245, 2001; 244, 2469; 245, 2467;245;2170.
The American Institute of Aeronautical Sciences, at the recommendation of
Wernher von Braun, published in English in Aero/Space Engineering,
September and October, 1959 (18, (9) and (10).
Repetitions Over Time and Separated Distances
"Two identical installations at St. Germain and Bougival, in an
underground gallery (57 m deep) show that the previously observed
anomalies are still present." M. Allais, Aero/Space Engineering, Nov. 1959,
p. 55
Modern Repetitions by Independent Groups
"A number of observations were made of the behavior of a Foucault
pendulum during the eclipse of the Sun of 15 February 1981. ..A similar
result concerning a shift of the oscillation plane on 30 June 1954 was
seen by Prof. Maurice Allais at St. Germain-Laye. ..These experiments
should be repeated during other total eclipses of the sun." G.T. Jeverdan,
Rusu, G.I. and Antonesco, "Experiments Using the Foucault Pendulum During
the Solar Eclipse of 15 February, 1981", Bib. Astronomer, 1:18 (1981)
The Eclipse in Detail as seen by a Foucault Pendulum
In 1997, Allais published a 750-page book, The Anisotrophy of Space
(Paris: Edition Clement Juglar) in which he gives a general and complete
presentation of his experimental and theoretical research.
"..an abnormal lunar and solar influence also became apparent in the
form of a remarkable disturbance of the motions of the paraconical
pendulum during the total solar eclipse of June 30, 1954. The plane of
the oscillation of the paraconical pendulum shifted approximately 15
centesimal degrees during the eclipse. An azimuth curve traced for the
period extending from June 28, 1954 (8 p.m.) to July 1, 1954 (4 p.m.).
Just at the beginning of the eclipse, the azimuth of the plane of
oscillation suddenly was raised 5 centisimal degrees above the trend
which first characterized its mothion. Twenty minutes before the maximum
of the eclipse, which was recorded at 12:40, the deviation reached a
maximum of 15 centisimal degrees and then decreased progressively...it
is notable that nothing in the branch of the azimuth curve which
precedes the time corresponding to the center of symmetry is in any way
comparable to the very strong deviation noted during the eclipse. It
must be further underscored that during all continuous observation
periods, no variation of the azimuth curve similar to that corresponding
to the solar eclipse of June 30, 1954, was ever observed. ..The order
of magnitude is that of the Foucault effect, which , in the case of the
pendulum used, is itself some 3 micro-G (10^-6 dg/g)...In the field of
astronomy, where planetary motion is dealt with, it is therefore
necessary to match them with forces, the integral of which would add up
to zero over the path of these planets. ..From this it will be seen that
the abnormalities that have been revealed do not in any fashion run
contrary to the earlier experimental data, either on the surface of the
earth or even in the field of astronomy."
M. Allais, Aero/Space Engineering, Sept. 1959, p. 46-52; Aero/Space
Engineering, Oct. 1959, p. 51-55; Aero/Space Engineering, Nov. 1959, p.
55; C.R.A.S. (Fr.), 247,1958, p. 1428; ibid, p. 2284; C.R.A.S. (Fr.),
248,1959, p. 764; ibid, p. 359
There is no doubt an impressive lineage in peer review and laureates
involved here.
Here are some further into how others have interpreted the Allais' pendulum
results.
Engineering of Foucault pendulum
"The very best study by far, both from the experimental and theoretical
standpoints, is that of (Nobel Laureate) Kamerlingh Onnes. ..To my
knowledge the motion of the Foucault pendulum never was observed
continuously, day and night, over a period of time of about a month.
Foucault himself never published the results of his findings other than
in a general form." M. Allais, Aero/Space Engineering, Sept. 1959, p. 46-52
Some of the counterarguments are summarized at the end of this list in
references.
Experimental details
Prior to the eclipse onset, the deviation in the trend line never exceeded
1.2 centisimal degrees, yielding a sigma value of 12.5 in the signal to
noise ratio. Simultaneous with the onset of the eclipse, the plane of
oscillation shifted 5 centisimal degrees above the trend line support for
the Foucault effect generally, when that trend was centered over a 12 hour
time series in azimuths and the eclipse maximum.
The pendulum itself was released from a resting position every 20 minutes,
and its motion observed for about 14 minutes. The release amplitude for
the pendulum was 0.11 radians, and initiated by the burning of a thread.
After 14 minutes, the pendulum was stopped and it was again released in the
plane of the last observed azimuth. The releases continued every 20
minutes, day and night, such that 72 series of connected azimuth
observations correspond within each 24-hour period. The motion was
observed with an aiming system (needle) placed on a circle centered on the
vertical axis of the pendulum, as defined at rest, with a scale graduated
in centisimal degrees. The precision in determining the plane of
oscillation was estimated at 0.1 centisimal degrees. The curves analyzed
show the successive azimuths observed over time (degrees). Each data point
represents the release azimuth corresponding to eac h series of 14-minute
observations. The Foucault effects (at latitude )are 0.209/minute. In the
centisimal system of measuring angles, the right angle is divided into 100
degrees, each degree into 100 minutes, and each minute into 100 seconds. In
French, a centisimal degree is a grade. One centisimal degree thus equals
0.9 (90/100) degrees as defined based on 360 equi-divisions of a circle.
Pendulum description
An asymmetrical , paraconical pendulum was used with components: 1)
vertical bronze disc weighing 7.5 kg, attached to a bronze rod hung from a
bronze stirrup; 2) the stirrup rests on a 6.5 mm diameter steel ball, which
is free to roll in any direction in the horizontal plane. To rule out any
systematic effect, the steel ball was changed after each 20 minute
experiment. and other contact surfaces that might show wear or
time-dependent anomalies were changed weekly during extended observations.
While in motion, the pendulum can rotate over a total angle of 210
centisimal degrees. The pendulum rod and its stirrup weighed 4.5 kg, such
that the pendulum's total weight was 12 kg with equivalent pendulum length
of approximately 83 cm. The steel balls were high precision bearing
surfaces of tungsten carbide and cobalt.
The geographic coordinates were (), with the pendulum's center of gravity
1.5 m below ground (basement location).
The tangent to the mean correspond to the 2,160 time series of 14-minute
elementary observations making up the monthly series for June-July 1955,
and accurately reflect the Foucault effect.
Rotation of the pendulum's plane during the total solar eclipse of June 30,
1954.
Azimuths of the pendulum were observed from June 28, 8 p.m. to July 1, 4
a.m. A spike was observed at the onset of the eclipse, with the plane of
oscillation shifted approximately 15 centisimal degrees [(185-170) maximum
displacement from Foucault angular trend line], or 13.5 degrees [0.24
radians].
Prior to the eclipse onset, the deviation in the trend line never exceeded
1.2 centisimal degrees, yielding a sigma of 12.5 in the signal to noise
ratio. Simultaneous with the onset of the eclipse, the plane of oscillation
shifted 5 centisimal degrees above the trend line support for the Foucault
effect generally, when that trend was centered over a 12 hour time series
in azimuths and the eclipse maximum. This excursion in the angular plane
persisted throughout 2.5 hours of observations.
1) Much complex description goes into 'asymmetrical paraconical' aspects,
etc.--, but the Foucault effect is visible simply by a wire and bob--the
longer the wire, the better.
2) While systematic errors can be introduced by the mode of suspension
(friction), any universal joint here works, if rotation is possible. The
pendulum at the UN Building (NY) for example is a steel claw which bites
into a 2.5 mm wire. The claw is hinged on a universal joint. If you are
willing to reset it occasionally, then this need not be complicated.
3) The motor drive (to overcome air resistance) does not drive the joint
itself, but instead the bob end. In the UN pendulum case again, the wire is
around 60 feet, so obviously this cannot be pushed from a hinge with a
non-rigid wire. The usual way to drive these is eddy currents--a ring is
placed at the bob end which gets pulses of AC current. An embedded copper
plate in the bob itself, then gets a phase kick and the bob goes back and
forth without supervision.
All this last stuff is to say that continuous, unsupervised operation is
complex. If on the other hand someone lets the pendulum go every 20 minutes
for maybe 4 hours or so, then all these problems are just a wire and
weight.
So how long of a wire and how much weight? Like all pendulum, simple or
otherwise, they are linear for small displacements. So for example, the UN
has a 200 pound ball suspended from 60 feet and it takes around 10 seconds
to complete a swing. The length to amplitude ratio is around 20. So about a
3 foot swing in a 60 foot wire. I could imagine having a weight with a hook
eye on it. A thread is tied to a object (file cabinet drawer handle?) to
the side and after about 20 minutes, then the pendulum is stopped, a new
thread is tied and burned for the moment of release.
That is the idea which if of interest, would require some considerable
refinements.
The short version of this long note is that it may truly take a dynamic
measurement to uncover anything on 11 August eclipse, meaning that
gravimeter is stationary reading (null measurement).
The explanation offered for ignoring them is that more sensitive techniques
have not confirmed any anomaly, which is perhaps an overstatement since
sensitivity in a 13 degree angular change is not the issue and because it
may take a non-static test method. This dismissal looks more like a charge
of systematic error, but as reported by 3 different scientists (at least)
separated by 3 eclipses (17 years) and at least 4 separate observational
opportunities.
Clearly however viewed, it is a category one mystery.
Explanations
1) blocking of solar radiation pressure as a variable force on the earth's
mass. "very minute" earth oscillation modes from glancing radiation
(outside the path of totality) which "would generate a disturbing torque at
right angles to the earth's axis. Professor Allais' pendulum--if oriented
in the a plane sensitive to angular rotation--could have detected this.."
quote from, F.V. Flynt, "Comment", Aerospace Engineering May 1960, p. 113
Note that Flynt further argues that based on earth-moon mass ratios, the
displacement between the earth's central axis and the earth-moon two body
axis of rotation generates small centrifugal forces. This becomes not only
a limitation, in his opinion, to why Newtonian gravititational constant
measured terrestrially is known to within only 3-4 significant figures, but
also why high precision measurements in 8-10 digits are mutually exclusive
of each other depending on location, time in earth's rotation and
moon-earth positions. (It is a fact that these different measurement
exclude each other within their reported precision, but hard to imagine
that JPL orbital calculation programs, for instance, are not flagging the
two-and three-body corrections well beyond imagineable marks like this.
Anyway, FYI on this unrelated observation to the radiation pressure
discussion and right angle torquing in the plane of the pendulum based on
diffraction like effects).
___________________
So Allais reports two different eclipses, with the same result basically in
3 locations. The pendulum changes its angle of rotation by 13.5 degrees
maximum, then returns to normal rotation (Foucault effect, 0.19
degrees/minute) in the ensuing (and preceding) hours.
A somewhat strange paper reports same thing for a 1981 eclipse, later
writing in a footnote that after recording their deviations in the Foucault
pendulum, they uncovered the Allais observations (read: they weren't
looking for it).
Here is perhaps the strangest report from a very good journal (Physical
Review D3, (1971) 823, saying basically the same result with a torsion
pendulum. This is E.J. Saxl and M. Allen, "1970 Solar Eclipse as 'Seen" by
a Torsional Pendulum."
2) The explanation proposed: "may indicate a kind of gravitational fine
structure," or diffraction-like higher harmonics.
They argue that these effects manifest as 'apparent wavelike structure
observed over the course of many years at our Harvard laboratory. It cannot
be predicted on the basis of classical gravitational theory nor has it been
observed i the quasistationary experiments underlying this theory (e.g.
spring-operated gravimeters, seismographs, and interferometer devices)."
In other words, their belief is that it requires moving parts, or dynamic
measurements to reveal this.
While it would be tempting to attribute the alignment of positions to the
added vs. subtracted mass of the moon+sun side (during eclipse) and the
moon-sun side (2 weeks later) as having some particular role, they note
that classical calculations would show that the maximum such difference
involves no more than 16 micro-g variation for any given site on earth, vs.
their abrupt period change in the torsional behavior that is 5 orders of
magnitude higher based on any gravitational increase in the tension on the
pendulum wire (an extension equivalent to 1.2 kg increase in the 23.4 kg
weight (5% change)).
They conclude that "this agrees qualitatively (including the early onset of
the timing of the signal in the eclipse) with the work of Allais with a
paraconical (Foucault) pendulum. There the change of azimuth increased
substantially in the first half of the eclipse of 30 June 1954. Both these
effects would seem to have a gravitational basis which cannot be explained
by any accepted classical theory...This leads to the same conclusion
arrived at by Allais.."
The particulars:
The eclipse was 7 March 1970, recorded at Harvard. The torsion pendulum is
a rod horizontal with two test masses (Cavendish balance) or torus (in
Saxl case, the torus donut shape is the mass oscillating) and the
centerpoint suspended by a fine quartz or coated conducting thread which
oscillates the the total weight in a plane. Saxl and Allen measure the time
for the clockwise and counterclockwise (back and forth) motion on its first
swing from rest. Variations in this time are observed during the eclipse,
with reference to Allais' results. The timing itself is automated and
digitally recorded from a mirror attached to the rod and signalling to a
photocell device. The path traversed is a constant fixed part. They also
report 'qualitative agreement with other eclipses" using their torsion
device, but only with automatic timing and non-ferrous/non-metallic parts
for the quantitative tests. Temperature control on their 'isoelastic'
Ni-Span "C" suspension wire was 21.7+0.6 C. This wire was kept under
constant load (for 17 years!) to avoid possible material load creep or
deviations from equilibrium. It s operative baseline was established 6.25 h
prior to the eclipse onset for comparison and run-in the wire to avoid
mechanical hysteresis, or stability, slippage problems. The pendulum was
grounded and charged to 4900 V for comparison of EM effects or artifacts.
The eclipse was around 96.5% total for Boston, with constant angle rotation
recorded from 10:15 am to 3:40 pm. An average of 5 consecutive (grounded
electrical) were recorded and averaged to give deviations (period, 29
seconds, integration time per average data point, 2.5 minutes, or 5 periods
of oscillation). In their observations, a 0.0372% increase in the period
(29.570 second baseline) is seen to begin its rise with the eclipse onset,
peak just after the eclipse maximum (29.581 second max.) and then decrease
to an offset value. The resolution for times are 10 microseconds and 100
microsecond significant digits--this would correspond to a sigma for signal
to noise ratio of around 31 or higher. Without any 5 period averaging, the
precision of the quartz-crystal timer itself is far higher, 10 parts per
billion.
They conclude finally "The findings with the torsion pendulum, the
significant mass of which moves perpendicularly to the geogravitic vector,
seem to indicate the possibility of a fine structure in these observations
neither predicted nor recorded using the orthodox methods of
quasistationary gravitational investigations."
References:
1) M. Allais, French Academy of Sciences: C.R.A.S. (1959) 245, 1875; 245,
2001; 244, 2469; 245, 2467;245;2170; in English in Aero/Space Engineering,
September and October, 1959 (18, (9) and (10).
2) F. Flynt, Comment, Aero/Space Engineering, May 1960
3) E. Saxl And M Allen, Phys. Rev. D3; 823, 1971
4) J. Haringx and H. Suchtelen, Phillips Technical Review, 19, 236, (1957/8)
5) G. Gillies, Metrologia, 24 (Suppl) 1-56 (1987)
6) L.B. Slichter, M. Caputo, and C.L Hager, J. Geophys. REs. 70(6),
1541-1551 (1965). The large, Trieste horizontal pendulums and a La Coste
gravimeter are used to test a limit of g=gn(1-2.5x10^-13) on the variation
of gravity due to shielding of the Sun by the Moon during a solar eclipse."
Space Shuttle and NASA Experimental Methods
Avron,Y., Livio, M. "Considerations regarding a space-shuttle
measurement of the gravitational constant," Astrophys. J., 304, L61-L64,
(1986).
Esposito, P.B. "Evaluation of the geocentric gravitional constant from
(Mars) Viking doppler and range data," J. Geophys. Res. 84: 3654-3658
(1979).
Farinella, P., Milani, A., Nobili, A.M. "The measurement of the
gravitional constant in an orbiting laboratory," Astrophys. Space Sci.
73: 417-433 (1980)
Gravitometers During Solar Eclipses
Dobrokhotov, U.S., Parisky, N., and Lysenko, V. "Observations of tidal
variations of gravity in Kiev during the solar eclipse on Feb. 15,
1961", Symp. Intern. Marees, Terestres, 4th, Comm. Obs. Roy. Belg. Ser.
Geophys., 58, 66-67, 1961.
Tomaschek, R. "Tidal gravity measurements in the Shetlands, effect of
the total eclipse of June 30, 1954, Nature, 175, 937-942 (1955)
Schlichter, L.B., Caputo, M. and Hager, C. J. Geophys. Res. 70: 1541
(1965)
Stacey, F.D. and Tuck, G.J., "Geophysical Evidence for Non-Newtonian
Gravity," Nature, 292: 230 (1981)
Tidal Correction Terms
Longman, I.M. Formulas for Computing the Tidal Accelerations Due to the
Moon and Sun, J. Geophys. Res. 64:2351 (1959)
Adamuti, I.A., Il Nuovo Cimento, 5C, 189 (1982)
Engineering of Foucault pendulum
Crane, H. R. "Foucault pendulum 'wall clock', Amer. J. Phys. 62, 33
(1995); note, Crane received 1988 Phillips Award, for his 'unusually
broad, deep, and persistent service to the physics education community.'
_____________________
The Dark Side of Gravity
Volume 285, Number 5424, Issue of 2 July 1999
©1999 by The American Association for the Advancement of Science.
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/vol285/issue5424/sindex.shtml
Text of article is:
The Dark Side of Gravity
Is gravity on Earth affected by a solar eclipse? Old observations of
strange behavior from a Foucault pendulum have persuaded NASA scientists to
test the notion during the total solar eclipse that will happen on 11
August.
The Foucault pendulum, invented in 1851 by French astronomer Jean Bernard
Leon Foucault, was the first instrument that could demonstrate Earth's
rotation without reference to the stars. The swing direction of the long
pendulum remains constant as Earth rotates underneath it, which means its
path appears to move,
traveling a full circle every 24 hours at the poles and taking longer
closer to the equator (32 hours in Paris, for example).
Maurice Allais, an amateur astronomer and 1988 economics Nobelist, claimed
to find what he called "remarkable anomalies" in a Foucault pendulum's
swing at his Paris laboratory during the total solar eclipses of 1954 and
1959. During one eclipse, he measured a slight deviation --an extra 0.15
degree--in movement of the plane under the pendulum's swing, indicating the
pendulum was speeding up slightly. This implied a tiny (3 millionths of 1g)
increase in Earth's gravity field. His published report, "Should the Laws
of Gravitation Be Reconsidered?" lay in obscurity until recently, when David
Noever of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, was
rummaging through the Web for information relating to his work on
gravity.
Now Noever and colleague Ron Koczor plan to use a state-of-the-art gravity
sensor to test Allais's observation during the upcoming eclipse. The NASA
team will compare their results with a similar test by Edcon Inc., a
gravitometer manufacturer in Denver, as well as observations at Foucault
pendulums in Europe that lie in the path of the eclipse.
The duo doubts they will find the eclipse anomaly. Still, says Noever,
"Allais could have stumbled onto something important." Possible
explanations are
highly speculative, ranging from quantum fluctuations in the vacuum of
space to radiation pressure changes from the blockage of sunlight.
______________________________
This would seem to indicate that the 11 August eclipse experiments are now
about solar neutrino problem and special relativity??
Shedding Light in the Dark
by Kristen Philipkoski, Wired
http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/20663.html
3:00 a.m. 13.Jul.99.PDT
Although a total solar eclipse on 11 August will black out the Northern
Hemisphere, it may enlighten physicists deciphering the causes of a
gravitational anomaly.
Forty-five years ago, French physicist Maurice Allais discovered that the
swing of a pendulum will change during an eclipse, a phenomenon which has
never been explained by established physics theory. Advocates of
autodynamics -- a theory that claims to debunk Einstein's theory of special
relativity -- believe they can explain the anomaly.
"Einstein doesn't have a mechanism for [explaining] gravity, and most of
the better physicists have said we don't have a mechanism explaining it,"
said David de Hilster, president of the Society for the Advancement of
Autodynamics. "We can explain how it works."
The autodynamics gravity theory goes like this: Everything is constantly
getting ever-so-slightly larger because of particles called pico-gravitons.
The particles push things around causing gravity, and sometimes they get
stuck inside objects, causing their mass -- and gravity -- to increase.
According to Einstein's theory of special relativity, mass and gravity do
not increase over time.
When the sun is screened out by the moon, it blocks lots of pico-gravitons,
de Hilster said, so it makes sense that a pendulum's swing would change
slightly. "We have a paper of brilliant calculations that explain why this
happens and predict what should be measured."
Mainstream physicists have considered autodynamics a crackpot theory for
decades, and most agree that an experiment at the Stanford Linear
Accelerator Center in 1984 proved the theory wrong.
"As far as I was concerned autodynamics was disproved. Special relativity
is correct," said Pierre Noyes, professor in the theoretical physics
section at SLAC, and lead researcher of the 1984 experiment.
Because Einstein's theory is so pervasive in physics, and so much of their
own research is based on his work, most physicists simply won't try to
understand autodynamics, de Hilster said.
Two NASA researchers will use a gravimeter at the Marshall Space Flight
Center in Huntsville, Alabama, to revisit Allais' 1954 and 1959
observations, which detected a 0.15 deviation in the rotational angle of
the pendulum.
The gravimeter itself will measure any gravitational anomalies and the
researchers hope to coordinate their studies with a pendulum in Europe,
closer to the direct line of the eclipse.
"There's pretty good experimental evidence against the idea that gravity
changes over time," said David Noever, the NASA Marshall Space Flight
Center physicist who will lead the eclipse research.
Noyes, of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, said the founder of
autodynamics, Ricardo Carezani, has modified his original theory in an
attempt to make the experiment work.
The autodynamics equations, however, are exactly the same as they were 40
years ago, according to de Hilster.The experiment was flawed, he said, not
the theory.
De Hilster has been criticized because he has degrees in mathematics and
linguistics rather than physics. But since he's studied autodynamics for
the past five years and has worked closely with Carezani, he said he
understands it well.
Carezani was a student in Argentina when he discovered autodynamics in
1940, where he claims his theory was suppressed by the Peron government
because it contested Einstein's theory.
Now 77, Carezani lives in California and still works to promote autodynamics.
Supporters of autodynamics do not subscribe to Einstein's theory of the
neutrino. The neutrino is integral to the theory of special relativity,
which holds that the speed of light is constant. Neutrinos are theorized to
be particles with little or no mass or charge and an extremely weak force
that allows them to pass through objects.
Conventional wisdom holds that neutrinos come from nuclear power plants and
stars -- our sun produces over two hundred trillion trillion trillion
neutrinos every second which pass through our bodies and the earth,
according to neutrino researchers.
Autodynamics advocates believe that Einstein followers fabricated the
neutrino in order to explain inconsistencies in the theory of special
relativity. And de Hilster believes that evidence of neutrinos reported by
government scientists is fabricated.
It's the "sentinel attack point for the theory of relativity," de Hilster
said. "It has no mass and no charge and people have been trying to detect
it and failed for 50 years."
An inconsistency in the number of neutrinos shown in several solar neutrino
experiments is a known problem in neutrino study.
However, most physicists don't question the existence of neutrinos. Huge
and expensive underground neutrino detectors called Super-Kamiokandes, or
Super-Ks, show apparent evidence of neutrinos.
Autodynamics advocates don't buy it. "They hide the data because
Super-Kamiokande collaboration is a secret society," an autodynamics paper
states. "They support the neutrino hypothesis in order to sustain special
relativity, but with no scientific basis."
But mainstream physicists say they've heard it all before.
"A lot of claims are made about "relativity" being wrong, in some way that
has something to do with neutrinos," said Lee Smolin, physics professor at
Penn State University.
"There is no serious attempt [by the autodynamics supporters] to make an
argument or to discuss the mountains of experimental data that refute their
basic claims, for example, in which people every day produce and detect
neutrinos in laboratories."
Additional online information:
Null result on torsion pendulum
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1991fnps.conf.....U&db_key=AST&high=37692492d311278
The 1990 solar eclipse as seen by a torsion pendulum
Authors:
ULLAKKO, K.; LIU, YONG; XIE, ZELIANG
Affiliation:
Helsinki Univ. of Technology, Espoo (Finland).
Journal:
In Oulu Univ., Proceedings of the 25th Annual
Conference of the Finnish Physical Society 1 p (SEE
N92-10362 01-70)
Publication Date:
00/1991
Category:
Solar Physics
Origin:
STI
NASA/STI Keywords:
FINLAND, PENDULUMS, SOLAR ECLIPSES, TORSION,
TEMPERATURE INVERSIONS,
TORSIONAL VIBRATION
Bibliographic Code:
1991fnps.conf.....U
Abstract
In July 1990 there was a total solar eclipse in Helsinki, Finland. The
results of Saxl and Allen, made at Harvard University (U.S.)
during the total solar eclipse in March 1970, were tested using equipment
which was quite similar to that used in Harvard. Because
the possible effects were expected to be extremely small, special attention
was paid to avoid vibrations of the surroundings. Also the
temperature of the equipment was controlled in order to eliminate changes
of temperature due to thermal expansion of the bars of the
pendulum and the suspension wire. Ten times better resolution than Saxl and
Allen was achieved. Four measurements, each lasting
nine hours, were performed during the night preceding the eclipse, during
the eclipse and the night after the eclipse and two weeks
after the eclipse. In the limits of errors no effects were observed. The
origin of the effects reported by Saxl and Allen must have been
in the experimental system.
Periodic solar influence on torsion pendulum
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1977PrTGE...8..201K&db_key=AST&high=37692492d311715
Title:
Effect of solar rotation on free vibrations of a
torsional pendulum
Authors:
KOLESNIKOVA, E. M.; KOLESNIKOV, S. M.
Journal:
Problemy Teorii Gravitatsii i Elementarnykh
Chastits, no. 8, 1977, p. 201-214. In Russian.
Publication Date:
00/1977
Category:
Solar Physics
Origin:
STI
NASA/STI Keywords:
FREE VIBRATION, PENDULUMS, SOLAR ROTATION,
AUTOCORRELATION,
GEOMAGNETISM, MECHANICAL OSCILLATORS, TWENTY-SEVEN
DAY VARIATION
Bibliographic Code:
1977PrTGE...8..201K
Abstract
Results are presented for one year of continuous measurements of the
free-vibration amplitudes of a torsional pendulum, which
reveal 27-day variations correlated with solar rotation. It is shown that
the observed variations are not connected with either
geomagnetic disturbances or solar activity as given by Wolf sunspot
numbers. An autocorrelation analysis of the measured
free-vibration amplitudes is performed, and peaks in the autocorrelation
coefficient are found at periods of 27, 28, and 30 days,
which indicates the effect of a perturbation with a slowly varying period.
It is proposed that the rotation of solar active regions
responsible for forming the boundaries of the interplanetary-magnetic-field
sector structure affects the free vibration of the
torsional pendulum and that the limb passage of these regions subjects the
earth to the same forces as those which accompany the
swinging of a low-frequency mechanical oscillator. The behavior of a
one-dimensional mechanical oscillator exposed to random
parametric perturbations is analyzed.
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1991AcASn..32....1G&db_key=AST&high=37692492d311715
Title:
INSPECTING THE PERIOD CHANGES OF THE TORSION PENDULUM
DURING SOLAR
AND LUNAR ECLIPSES
Authors:
GUAN, T.R.; HU, E.K.
Journal:
ACTA ASTRONOMICA SINICA V.32:1, P. 1, 1991
Publication Date:
03/1991
Origin:
KNUDSEN
Bibliographic Code:
1991AcASn..32....1G
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1975PrTGE...6..205S&db_key=AST&high=37692492d311715
Title:
A method for detecting gravitational waves with
the aid of torsion pendulums
Authors:
SHIROKOV, M. F.; BONDAREV, B. V.
Journal:
Problemy Teorii Gravitatsii i Elementarnykh
Chastits, no. 6, 1975, p. 205, 206. In Russian.
Publication Date:
00/1975
Category:
Astrophysics
Origin:
STI
NASA/STI Keywords:
GRAVIMETRY, GRAVITATIONAL WAVES, PENDULUMS,
TORSIONAL VIBRATION,
SEISMIC WAVES, TORQUE, WAVE EQUATIONS
Bibliographic Code:
1975PrTGE...6..205S
Abstract
The paper considers two identical torsion pendulums whose beams form a
right angle. It is shown that the rotational moments
caused by some gravitational wave will be equal in magnitude, but opposite
in direction. It is concluded that this peculiar effect
may be exploited to distinguish the response of a detector to gravitational
radiation against a background of oscillations due to
seismic events or other causes.
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1982NCimC...5..189A&db_key=AST&high=37692492d317442
Title:
The screen effect of the earth in the TETG -
Theory of a screening experiment of a sample body at
the equator, using the earth as a screen
Authors:
ADAMUTI, I. A.
Affiliation:
AA(Institutul de Cercetari si Proiectari Pentru
Industria Electrotehnica, Bucharest, Rumania)
Journal:
Nuovo Cimento C, Serie 1, vol. 5C, Mar.-Apr. 1982,
p. 189-208.
Publication Date:
04/1982
Category:
Astrophysics
Origin:
STI
NASA/STI Keywords:
ANGULAR ACCELERATION, EARTH SURFACE, ELECTRIC
FIELDS, PLANETARY
GRAVITATION, SCREEN EFFECT, SOLAR GRAVITATION,
THERMODYNAMICS,
CENTRIFUGAL FORCE, DIURNAL VARIATIONS, EARTH
ROTATION, EQUATORS,
NEWTON THEORY
Bibliographic Code:
1982NCimC...5..189A
Abstract
The acceleration of gravity, g, is calculated at the same point on the
earth's surface for the cases of the equator at midday and at
midnight. The calculations are for an ellipsoid of revolution of the earth
around an axis projected from the plane of the equator.
Values of g are calculated in terms of the Newton and
electrothermodynamical theories, for the earth, sun, and the centrifugal
rotation and revolution of the earth. The results are presented in tabular
form for the midday and midnight cases, and calculations
are conducted to verify the total differences between the two points, for
the two theoretical frameworks, by means of a pendulum
and a ballistic gravimeter.
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1976GBzG...85..513T&db_key=AST&high=37692492d317442
Title:
Bottlinger's and Majorana's absorption of the
gravitational force and the tide-generating forces
Authors:
TREDER, H.-J.
Affiliation:
AA(Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften,
Sternwarte, Babelsberg, East Germany)
Journal:
Gerlands Beitraege zur Geophysik, vol. 85, no. 6,
1976, p. 513-520. In German.
Publication Date:
00/1976
Category:
Astrophysics
Origin:
STI
NASA/STI Keywords:
EARTH-MOON SYSTEM, GRAVITATION THEORY, NEWTON
THEORY, TIDES,
ABSORPTANCE, CELESTIAL MECHANICS, NEUTRON STARS,
PENDULUMS
Bibliographic Code:
1976GBzG...85..513T
Abstract
Classical theories concerning the mechanical shielding of gravitation and a
theory developed by Riemann (1850/51) lead to a
modification of Newton's law of gravitation. Such modified relations are
provided by gravitation laws reported by Seeliger (1895,
1909) and Majorana (1920). Seeliger's modification leads according to
Bottlinger (1912) to fluctuations of the length of the moon
in connection with the lunar eclipse. Values for the constant k of
Majorana's relation are discussed, taking into account
experimental determinations of higher accuracy on the basis of measurements
of the tide-generating forces and a utilization of
stellar relations.
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1997grgp.conf..451D&db_key=AST&high=37692492d317442
Title:
PLANNING TO MEASURE G WITH A PENDULUM
Authors:
DE MARCHI, A.; ORTOLANO, M.; PERIALE, F.; RUBIOLA, E.
Journal:
General Relativity and Gravitational Physics;
Proceedings of the 12th Italian Conference, edited by
M. Bassan, V. Ferrari, M. Francaviglia, F. Fucito,
and I. Modena. World Scientific Press, 1997.,
p.451
Publication Date:
00/1997
Origin:
ADS
Bibliographic Code:
1997grgp.conf..451D
*****************************************************************************
Dr. David Noever Space Sciences Lab
Mail Code: SD48 Microgravity Science And Applications
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center 256-544-7783 (Ph)
Huntsville, AL 35812 USA 256-544-2102 (FAX)
e-mail: david.noever@msfc.naxa.gov
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To: "Antonio Iovane"
<iovane@tin.ot>
From:
"David Noever" <david.noever@msfc.naxa.gov>
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Subject:
Re: Pendulum and eclipse
Are you
still planning to take some measurements? If so we have a more
complete
description in electronic format, if requested.
David
>Dear
Dr. Noever, I've decided to make a simple experiment during the
>eclipse:
I will use an idle pendulum instead of an oscillating one, in
>order to check if some motion arises. I think that
it is difficult to
>exactly reproduce the Allais' experiment, due to the
plurality of
>involved
variables ( period of the pendulum, its
phase and direction of
>the
plan of oscillation at the moment of a
perturbating event; direction,
>duration
and strength of the perturbating force
). On the other hand,
>should
an idle pendulum get motion, it could be
easier to discriminate a
>perturbating
force. I've proposed this experiment on
an internet forum,
>and
we could have some idle pendulums waiting
for the eclipse. If you are
>non
disturbed, please let me know your opinion
and/or suggestions, if
>any.
Thanks for your attention. Regards, Antonio Iovane
*****************************************************************************
Dr. David
Noever Space
Sciences Lab
Mail Code:
SD48 Microgravity
Science And Applications
NASA
Marshall Space Flight Center 256-544-7783
(Ph)
Huntsville, AL 35812 USA 256-544-2102 (FAX)
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Date:
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To:
"Antonio Iovane" <iovane@tin.ot>
From:
"David Noever" <david.noever@msfc.naxa.gov>
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Subject: PROTOCOLLO SPERIMENTALE PER
LA MISURAZIONE DEL MOVIMENTO DIPENDULA
>>Are
you still planning to take some measurements? If so we have a more
>>complete
description in electronic format, if requested.
>>
>>David
>
>
>Yes,
I will do it, and will take a record too. I will keep you informed.
>So
I ask you to send me any helpful info.
>Now
I'm adjusting and testing my equipment, and I'm planning to observe it
>over
a reasonable period of time to check its reliability.
>Thanks,
>Antonio
You
mentioned an interest in skimming through some of the hodge-podge in
this area.
Actually, the better stuff is towards the bottom, and then it
gets
increasingly simple at the top.
I have
attached a short history on this problem related to 11 August
eclipse. We
are interested in assistance from those who may also be able to
refer any
suggestions about:
1)
available university or museum display Foucault pendulum in European
path of
totality for eclipse
2) amateur
experimenters who may be interested enough to construct some
components
of their own measurements. In this case, the minimal version
would
be a long wire and a weight, such that
swing and rotation modes are
possible.
A video
(preferrably before and after the eclipse with up to 6 hours of
pendulum
motion and a time indicator on the video) would be the initial
data.
Perhaps a top view is most interesting, since the expected effect--if
true--would
be summarized as approximately a 13 degree change in the
rotation of
the pendulum. Since the earth's rotation is contributing 10
degree
change per hour, this is a large value accessible to amateur's over
the course
of several hours on video tape.
We can
receive these and will have some analysis added to it. If a top view
is not
convenient, a horizontally placed camera could either video or
periodically
record the angle.
The simple
method is to: 1) set the weight in motion, say less than 10-30
degrees
from the vertical;' 2) turn on the video with long-play tape.
When air
resistance or friction from the wire attachment (which should be
universally
hinged to allow rotation) slows down the back and forth motion
of the
weight, then the ball can be reset manually in motion.
The angle
of initial release is not relevant to this kind of short 6 hour
experiment,
because the swinging motion will simply attempt to keep its
initial
line as the earth (floor) turns underneath it.
That's it.
If you think a kind person in the European path would share your
interest,
we would welcome any further exchange of ideas about how to
coordinate
events for August 11.
These would
be the most user-friendly (simple) instructions in 4 languages
(pardon translation errors):
PROTOCOLLO SPERIMENTALE PER LA
MISURAZIONE DEL MOVIMENTO DI PENDULA
SCOPO: Lo scopo di questo esperimento è determinare se il
movimento d'un pendolo cambia durante l'
eclipse solare totale di agosto del 1999. I rapporti
scientifici pubblicati suggeriscono che le deviazioni
nel senso del pendolo si presentano durante l' eclipse
(con il movimento che ritorna dopo al relativo
modo normale).
METODO: Il grande pendula alle università ed ai musei
intorno al mondo sarà usato per effettuare
questo esperimento. Il movimento del pendolo sarà
registrato su videotape prima di, durante e dopo i
passaggi di eclipse. Questa registrazione allora DIGITAL
sarà elaborata per ottenere i dati posizionali
del pendolo in funzione di tempo.
Nota: è presupposto che il movimento del pendolo non possa essere
interrotto e posizionato
specificamente per questo esperimento. Di conseguenza il
video del movimento in che cosa aereo
accade è accettabile. Tuttavia, se l' aereo può allora
essere preselezionato crediamo che il senso
ottimale di movimento possa essere perpendicolare al
percorso della totalità alla posizione del pendolo.
Per quel motivo, chiediamo che il pendolo è regolato per
muoversi in quel senso una volta possibile.
La nota, anche, che la video macchina fotografica normale
registra non è tipicamente abbastanza lunga
registrare l' evento completo di 6 ore. Una possibilità
deve usare la video macchina fotografica come
riga immessa ad un video registratore a cassetta (vcr). È
allora possibile da registrare a destra su un
nastro lungo di durata nel vcr. Ciò egualmente presenta il
vantaggio di mettere il video direttamente su
un formato standard del nastro. Contrassegnare prego il
vostro nastro quanto al formato usato (IE, VHS,
pal, beta, ecc.).
Italiano:
L' ESPERIMENTO: Punto 1. Posizionare una video macchina
fotografica sopra il percorso del pendolo
in modo che osservi il movimento del pendolo. Registrare l'
ingrandimento di immagine in modo che il
formato della struttura del video abbini il percorso totale
del pendolo. Se possibile, disporre un piccolo
(un diametro da approssimativamente 3 - 5 centimetri)
contrassegno di riferimento sul pendolo come
vicino al legare di sostegno come possibile. Ciò sarà usata
per l' elaborazione di immagini. Il
contrassegno può essere una piccola parte del nastro
colorato (quale il nastro arancione o rosso
brillante di sicurezza) fissato temporaneamente. Se è
impossible da fissare qualche cosa al pendolo,
quindi registrare senza.
Inoltre, indicare prego il senso del nord allineare in
qualche luogo nel campo di visibilità della macchina
fotografica. Un indicatore di nastro brillante provvisorio
è ancora sufficiente.
Punto 2: Se disponibile, posizionare una seconda video
macchina fotografica nel piano del pendolo in
modo che sia nel piano dell' oscillazione ai tempi della
totalità.
Punto 3: Stabilire un riferimento esatto di tempo per la vostra misura. Se
la vostra macchina fotografica
registra automaticamente il tempo e la data sul video,
allora regolare il tempo come esattamente
possibile. Se la vostra macchina fotografica non registra
il tempo e la data, allora il uno o il altro posto
un orologio digitale (con i numeri leggibili sulla
registrazione della macchina fotografica) in qualche
luogo nel campo di visibilità di video macchina fotografica
(senza interferire con il movimento del
pendolo). Un' alternativa deve registrare un segnale audio
di tempo da una sorgente esatta di
riferimento di tempo. Un' esattezza generale di tempo +/-
di 2 secondi è richiesta, con più alta esattezza
che è preferita se disponibile.
Punto 4: Determinare quando la vostra posizione avverte la
totalità. Cominciare la posizione del
pendolo della registrazione e cronometrare circa 3 ore
prima della totalità e continuare la registrazione
per 3 ore dopo la totalità.
Punto 5: Contrassegnare il nastro con il vostri nome, posizione e nome
dell' istituzione della persona del
contatto. Con il nastro, fornire prego la latitudine, la
longitudine e l' altezza sopra il livello del mare del
vostro pendolo, una descrizione delle funzioni fisiche del
vostro pendolo (quali materiale e peso della
sfera, della lunghezza del legare di sostegno, del metodo
impiegato per effettuare movimento, ecc.) e la
zona di tempo del tempo registrato (UTC è preferito).
Punto 6: Trasmettere il nastro e le informazioni
supplementari a:
La Direzione Del Dott. David Noever Nasa La Science, Sd48,
Costruente 4481 Ordina Il Centro Di Volo
spaziale, Alabama 35812, S.U.A.
Dr. David Noever
NASA
Science Directorate, SD48, Building 4481
Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama 35812, USA
English
EXPERIMENTAL PROTOCOL FOR MEASURING THE MOTION OF PENDULA
PURPOSE: The purpose of this experiment is to determine if the motion of a
pendulum changes during the August 1999 total solar eclipse. Published
scientific reports suggest that deviations in pendulum direction occur
during an eclipse (with the motion returning to its normal mode after).
APPROACH: Large pendula at universities and museums around the world will
be used to perform this experiment. The pendulum motion will be recorded
on videotape prior to, during, and after the eclipse passes. This
recording will then be digitally processed to obtain pendulum positional
data as a function of time.
Note: it is assumed that the motion of the pendulum cannot be
stopped and positioned specifically for this experiment. Therefore video
of the motion in whatever plane it occurs is acceptable. However, if the
plane can be pre-selected then we believe that the optimum direction of
motion may be perpendicular to the path of totality at the pendulum
location. For that reason, we request that the pendulum be set to move in
that direction when possible.
Note, too, that normal video camera tapes are typically not long
enough to record the complete 6 hour event. One possibility is to use the
video camera as a line input to a video cassette recorder (vcr). It is
then possible to record right onto a long duration tape in the vcr. This
also has the advantage of putting the video directly onto a standard tape
format. Please mark your tape as to format used (ie, VHS, PAL, Beta,
etc.).
THE EXPERIMENT:
Step 1. Position a video camera above the path of the pendulum so
that it views the pendulum motion. Adjust the image magnification so that
the video frame size matches the total path of the pendulum. If possible,
place a small (roughly 3 to 5 cm diameter) reference mark on the pendulum
as close to the supporting wire as possible. This will be used for image
processing. The mark can be a small piece of colored tape (such as
brilliant orange or red safety tape) attached temporarily. If it is
impossible to attach anything to the pendulum, then record without.
Also, please indicate the direction of True North somewhere in the
field of view of the camera. Again a temporary brilliant tape marker is
sufficient.
Step 2: If available, position a second video camera in the plane
of the pendulum so that it is in the plane of the swing at the time of
totality.
Step 3: Establish an accurate time reference for your measurement.
If your camera automatically records time and date onto the video, then set
the time as accurately as possible. If your camera does not record time
and date, then either place a digital clock (with numbers legible on the
camera recording) somewhere in the field of view of the video camera
(without interfering with the pendulum motion). An alternative is to
record an audio time signal from an accurate time reference source. An
overall time accuracy of +/- 2 seconds is required, with higher accuracy
being preferred if available.
Step 4: Determine when your location experiences totality. Begin
recording pendulum position and time approximately 3 hours before totality
and continue recording for 3 hours after totality.
Step 5: Mark the tape with your institution name, location and
name of contact person. Along with the tape, please provide the latitude,
longitude and elevation above sea level of your pendulum, a description of
the physical aspects of your pendulum (such as material and weight of ball,
length of support wire, method used to maintain motion, etc.) and the time
zone of the recorded time (UTC is preferred).
Step 6: Send the tape and supporting information to:
Dr. David Noever
NASA
Science Directorate, SD48, Building 4481
Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama 35812, USA
___________________
Deutsch:
EXPERIMENTELLES PROTOKOLL FÜR DAS MESSEN DER BEWEGUNG VON
PENDULA
ZWECK: Der Zweck dieses Experimentes ist, festzustellen,
wenn die Bewegung eines Pendels während
der Gesamtsolareklipse Augustes 1999 ändert. Erschienene
wissenschaftliche Reports schlagen vor,
daß Abweichungen in der Pendelrichtung während einer
Eklipse auftreten (wenn die Bewegung
nachher zu seinem normalen zurückgeht Modus).
ANNÄHERUNG: Großes pendula an Universitäten und Museen um
die Welt wird verwendet, um dieses
Experiment durchzuführen. Die Pendelbewegung wird auf
Videoband vor, während und nach den
Eklipsedurchläufen gespeichert. Diese Aufnahme wird dann
DIGITAL verarbeitet, um
Pendelpositionsdaten als Funktion der Zeit zu erhalten.
Anmerkung: es wird angenommen, daß die Bewegung des Pendels nicht für
dieses Experiment
spezifisch gestoppt werden und in Position gebracht werden
kann. Folglich ist Bildschirm der Bewegung
in was Fläche er auftritt, annehmbar. Jedoch wenn die
Fläche dann vorgewählt werden kann, glauben
wir, daß die optimale Richtung der Bewegung zum Pfad der
Gesamtheit am Pendelstandort senkrecht
sein kann. Für diesen Grund fordern wir an, daß das Pendel
eingestellt wird, um sich in diese Richtung
zu bewegen, wenn möglich.
Anmerkung auch die normale videokamera auf Band aufnimmt,
sollen gewöhnlich nicht lang genug den
kompletten 6 Stunde Fall speichern. Eine Möglichkeit soll
die videokamera als Zeile benutzen, die zu
einem videokassette Schreiber (vcr) eingegeben wird. Zu
speichern ist dann möglich, nach rechts auf
ein langes Dauerband im vcr. Dieses hat auch den Vorteil
des Setzens des Bildschirmes direkt auf ein
Standardbandformat. Kennzeichnen Sie bitte Ihr Band
hinsichtlich des verwendeten Formats (IE, VHS,
Kamerad, Beta, etc.).
DAS EXPERIMENT: Jobstep 1. Bringen Sie eine videokamera über den Pfad des
Pendels in Position,
damit es die Pendelbewegung ansieht. Justieren Sie die
Bildvergrößerung, damit die
Bildschirmfeldgröße den Gesamtpfad des Pendels
zusammenbringt. Wenn möglich, plazieren Sie eine
kleine (ein Durchmesser von ungefähr 3 bis 5 Zentimeter)
Bezugsmarke auf das Pendel möglichst nahe
an der unterstützenden Leitung. Dieses wird für die
Bildübersetzung verwendet. Die Markierung kann
ein kleines Stück des farbigen Bandes sein (wie leuchtendes
orange oder rotes Sicherheit Band)
vorübergehend angebracht. Wenn es unmöglich ist, alles zum
Pendel anzubringen, dann speichern Sie
außen.
Auch zeigen Sie bitte die Richtung des zutreffenden Nordens
irgendwo in Gesichtsfeld der Kamera an.
Wieder ist eine temporäre leuchtende Bandmarke genügend.
Jobstep 2: Wenn vorhanden, bringen Sie eine zweite
videokamera in der Fläche des Pendels in
Position, damit es in der Fläche des Schwingens zu der Zeit
der Gesamtheit ist.
Jobstep 3: Stellen Sie eine genaue Zeitreferenz für Ihr Messen her. Wenn
Ihre Kamera automatisch Zeit
und Datum auf den Bildschirm speichert, stellen Sie dann
die Zeit so genau ein, wie möglich. Wenn Ihre
Kamera nicht Zeit und Datum speichert, dann jeder Platz
eine Digitaluhr (mit den Zahlen lesbar auf der
Kameraaufnahme) irgendwo in Gesichtsfeld der videokamera
(ohne die Pendelbewegung zu
behinderen). Eine Alternative soll ein Audiozeitsignal von
einer genauen Zeitbezugsquelle speichern.
Eine gesamte Zeitgenauigkeit von +/- 2 Sekunden wird
angefordert, wenn die höhere Genauigkeit,
bevorzugt ist, wenn vorhanden.
Jobstep 4: Stellen Sie fest, wenn Ihr Standort Gesamtheit
erfährt. Fangen Sie Aufnahmependelposition
an und setzen Sie Zeit ungefähr 3 Stunden vor Gesamtheit
fest und setzen Sie Aufnahme 3 Stunden
lang nach Gesamtheit fort.
Jobstep 5: Kennzeichnen Sie das Band mit Ihrem Anstalt
Namen, Standort und Namen der
Kontaktperson. Zusammen mit dem Band stellen Sie bitte die
Breite, die Länge und den Aufzug über
Meeresspiegel Ihres Pendels, eine Beschreibung zur Verfügung
Jobstep 6: Schicken Sie das Band und die unterstützenden Informationen zu:
Direktorat Des Dr. David Noever Nasa Science, Sd48, 4481
Aufbauend Marshall PlatzFlugMitte,
Alabama 35812, USA
Dr. David Noever
NASA
Science Directorate, SD48, Building 4481
Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama 35812, USA
_________________
or French
PROTOCOLE EXPÉRIMENTAL POUR MESURER LE MOUVEMENT DE PENDULA
BUT: Le but de cette expérience est de déterminer si le
mouvement d'un pendule change pendant toute
l'éclipse solaire d'août 1999. Les états scientifiques
édités suggèrent que les déviations dans la
direction de pendule se produisent pendant une éclipse
(avec le mouvement retournant à sa "copie
normale" ensuite).
APPROCHE: Le grand pendula aux universités et aux musées
autour du monde sera employé pour
exécuter cette expérience. Le mouvement de pendule sera
enregistré sur bande vidéo avant, pendant,
et après les passages d'éclipse. Cet enregistrement alors
sera DIGITAL traité pour obtenir des données
de position de pendule en fonction du temps.
Note: on le suppose que le mouvement du pendule ne peut
pas être arrêté et placé spécifiquement pour
cette expérience. Par conséquent le vidéo du mouvement
dans quelqu'avion il se produise est
acceptable. Cependant, si l'avion peut être
pré-sélectionné alors nous croyons que la direction optima
du mouvement peut être perpendiculaire à la voie d'accès
de la totalité au pendant.
La note, aussi, que sur bande l'appareil-photo visuel normal enregistre ne
sont typiquement pas assez
longue pour enregistrer l'événement complet de 6 heures.
Une possibilité doit utiliser l'appareil-photo
visuel comme ligne entrée dans un enregistreur de cassette
vidéo (magnétoscope). Il est alors possible
d'enregistrer bien sur une longue bande de durée dans le
magnétoscope. Ceci a également l'avantage
de mettre le vidéo directement sur un format standard de
bande. Veuillez marquer votre bande quant au
format utilisé (IE, VHS, pal, bêta, etc.).
L'CExpérience: Étape 1. Placez un appareil-photo visuel
au-dessus de la voie d'accès du pendule de
sorte qu'il visualise le mouvement de pendule. Ajustez le
rapport optique d'image de sorte que la taille
de trame de vidéo apparie toute la voie d'accès du pendule.
Si possible, placez une petite (diamètre
d'approximativement 3 à 5 centimètres) marque de référence
sur le pendule en tant que près du fil
supportant que possible. Ceci sera utilisé pour le
traitement d'image. La marque peut être un petit
morceau de bande colorée (telle que la bande orange ou
rouge brillante de sûreté) jointe
temporairement. S' il est impossible d'attacher n'importe
quoi au pendule, alors enregistrez
Étape 2: Si disponible, placez un deuxième appareil-photo visuel dans le
plan du pendule de sorte qu'il
soit dans le plan de l'oscillation au moment de la totalité.
Étape 3: Établissez une référence précise de temps pour
votre mesure. Si votre appareil-photo
enregistre automatiquement l'heure et la date sur le vidéo,
placez alors l'heure aussi exactement que
possible. Si votre appareil-photo n'enregistre pas l'heure
et la date, puis l'un ou l'autre endroit un
pendule à lecture digitale (avec des nombres lisibles sur
l'enregistrement d'appareil-photo) quelque
part dans le champ visuel de l'appareil-photo visuel (sans
gêner le mouvement de pendule). Une
alternative doit enregistrer un signal sonore de temps
d'une source précise de référence de temps. Une
exactitude globale de temps de +/- 2 secondes est exigée,
avec une exactitude plus élevée étant
préférée si disponible.
Étape 4: Déterminez quand votre emplacement éprouve la
totalité. Commencez la position de pendule
d'enregistrement et chronométrez approximativement 3 heures
avant la totalité et continuez
l'enregistrement pendant 3 heures après la totalité.
Étape 5: Marquez la bande avec votre nom, emplacement et nom
d'établissement de personne de
contact. Avec la bande, fournissez s'il vous plaît la
latitude, la longitude et l'altitude au-dessus du niveau
de la mer de votre pendule, une description des aspects
physiques de votre pendule (tels que la matière
et le poids de la boule, longueur de fil de support, la
méthode employés pour mettre à jour le
mouvement, etc...) et le fuseau horaire du temps enregistré
(le UTC est préféré).
Étape 6: Envoyez la bande et l'information supportante à:
La Direction De Dr. David Noever Nasa Le Science, Sd48,
Construisant 4481 Rassemblent Le Centre
De Vol spatial, Alabama 35812, Les Etats-Unis
Dr. David Noever
NASA
Science Directorate, SD48, Building 4481
Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama 35812, USA
The long version is attached below if further reference or history of interest.
This response below is far more than any single person would want to know
about the August 11 solar eclipse-gravity experiments. (Near the end, I
attach the July 2 Science article description).
I provide this as background.
The various explanations can be considered afterwards if there is anything
to explain.
The issue of whether it is an advantage to be in the path of totatity for
the eclipse (far NE America, Europe to Asia) is an open one, since it
hinges on the resolution of the method used and the cause of any anomaly.
The resolution is high enough for milli-Gal resolution certainly, and the
cause is unknown.
I suppose if forced to make a prediction, I would say that static (null)
gravimeters will not show an effect (interesting in its own right) but that
dynamic measurements (moving parts) may have some firm historical
precedents.
I'll followup with time tables in detail and any additional notes about
operation.
Thanks again for your preprint reference. This observation on 11 August is
only a minor excursion for our ongoing research.
David
___________
For the simple pendulum (wire and ball, with two modes, one a vertical
swing, the other a horizontal rotation).
An 8-10 second period would have a predicted 13.5 degree excursion, which
is highly visible and persistent over the eclipse, even when (or
particularly because) the rotation itself is 10 degrees per hour from earth
rotation and Foucault effect. Note that prior to the World's Fair in Paris,
nobody thought that earth's rotation could ever be detected in this way,
which is why a demonstration was arranged.
The Foucault effect itself is 3 micro-G and considered an inspiration to
Mach's principle and inertial physics; and if true, the August 11 anomalies
for the eclipse would be consistent with previous reports in the range of 5
micro-G, so it is not trivial, either in its comparative value or in its
observational values (13.5 degree backward shift in angle of planar swing;
note this is clockwise turn seen from above in the N. Hemisphere and has
around 10 degrees per hour rotation at mid-latitudes; the period by
location is easy to calculate as [24 hours/sin (latitude)], so it is 24
hours approx. at the pole, and infinite at the equator).
As is, the signal to noise ratio was reported as 12.5 (sigma values,
uncertainties) or higher and coincident at least 4 different observational
years with the onset of the eclipse separated over at least a 17-30 year
span.
This 13.5 degree backward excursion in the angular plane persisted
throughout 2.5 hours of observations, repeated 3 times in 2 locations in
1954 and 1959 in France, repeated again in 1981 in Romania, repeated again
using a torsion pendulum in 1970 eclipse at Harvard, then also refuted in
1954 in Shetland, Scotland using static gravimeters, and in 1965 in
Trieste, and not observed in 1990 Finland eclipse using torsion pendulum.
You would have to go to Allais' 1988 Nobel autobiographical lecture to hear
the scientific challenge here: "During the total eclipses of the sun on
June 30, 1954, and October 22, 1959, quite analogous deviations of the
plane of oscillation of the paraconical pendulum were observed...With
regard to all these results as well as to their analysis I can make a
prediction..."
Well, good luck.
In an American J. of Physics (58, 530, 1990; G.T. Gillies) review, the
summary of Allais' work reads: "A physicist (who later won a Nobel prize in
economics) finds a gravitational anisotropy at the level of 5 micro-G.
(5x10^-6 G)."
Additional modern review article's opinion of the 6 notes in the French
Academy of Science (Allais, CRAS) and the followup Physical Review D
article (Saxl and Allen, confirming periodic changes in a torsion pendulum,
1970 eclipse in Boston):
"There is considerable interest in gravitation...but experiments are
difficult, and a great deal of work done in the past, some of it very
careful and still valuable, is rather inaccessible...the results of Allais,
and later, Saxl and Allen, are seldom discussed."
So we currently have the following datasets that could be coming in:
1) February 1999 eclipse data over S. Hemisphere (unanalyzed so far)
2) 4 gravimeters of similar high resolution in Abu Dabi, running along in
the path of totality
3) 1 gravimeter, Huntsville
4) 2 borehole gravimeters (Denver, Edcon)
5) 1 absolute gravimeter (falling mass, laser system; Micro-G Solutions,
Boulder)
If people also wants to take some measurements with a torsion balance, this
is the summary of how it has worked historically and some refinements.
If you want to see what one of these Foucault anomalies looks like on a
graph, you can also go to the Department of Physics, Univ. Guelph, site:
http://www.physics.uoguelph.ca/foucault6.html
As to the all important question of why?, consider how the observers put it.
The prevailing interpretation by the original experimenters were that:
1) Allais attributed effects to anisotropy in space itself (1997 with 750
page long French book titled "The Anisotropy of Space")
2) In a followup comment (1960), Flynt attributed the pendulum effects to
blocking solar radiation pressure, but with the subtlety of harmonic
effects because of the shifted coincidence between early onset of pendulum
changes and later trailing off during late stages of eclipse
3) Saxl and Allen (1971) attributed effects to fine structure and
gravitational wave detection, but conclude that these effects (as seen over
17 years at Harvard on a torsional balance) require a dynamic, moving test
mass to reveal any effects.
There is detailed geographic information on the path of totality for the
eclipse on August 11:
Try first at NASA/Goddard
http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/eclipse.html
and
http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/TSE1999/TSE1999.html
A small N. Atlantic segment is shown at:
http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast17jun99_1.htm
Nova Scotia is one of the earlier totality regions; NY itself may see at
dawn an approximate 30% coverage of the solar disk.
Note that the only two long-term Foucault pendulum observations are from K.
Onnes (discovered superconductivity, Nobel Physics, 1913, for mercury, and
later tin and lead) and M. Allais (eclipse anomaly, Nobel Economics, 1988).
Foucault himself although engaged in many spectacular demonstrations from
the 1851 World's Fair onwards, never published long-term raw data.
An interesting aside here on Onnes was that he was the student of Kirchhoff
(famous electrical circuit rules), and is credited with "theoretical as
well as experimental proof that Foucault's well-known pendulum experiment
should be considered as a special case of a large group of phenomena which
in a much simpler fashion can be used to prove the rotational movement of
the earth."
Onnes had a famous motto: "Door meten tot weten" (Knowledge through
measurement)
Allais' Challenge to the Scientific Community,
Maurice Allais' Nobel Autobiographical Lecture, 1988
"During the total eclipses of the sun on June 30, 1954, and October 22,
1959, quite analogous deviations of the plane of oscillation of the
paraconical pendulum were observed...With regard to all these results as
well as to their analysis I can make a prediction: if, without
interruption, for at least one month, in the same place and at the same
time, observations of the movement of the paraconical pendulum are made,
together with optical sightings such as those I made, as well as a
repetition of the Michelson-Morley (1887) and Miller (1925)
experiments.. it will be found that the effects observed by Miller in
1925 correspond to the anomalies in the movement of the paraconical
pendulum and the anomalies of the optical sightings which I observed."
Original sources were reported in six notes of the French Academy of
Sciences: C.R.A.S. 245, 1875; 245, 2001; 244, 2469; 245, 2467;245;2170.
The American Institute of Aeronautical Sciences, at the recommendation of
Wernher von Braun, published in English in Aero/Space Engineering,
September and October, 1959 (18, (9) and (10).
Repetitions Over Time and Separated Distances
"Two identical installations at St. Germain and Bougival, in an
underground gallery (57 m deep) show that the previously observed
anomalies are still present." M. Allais, Aero/Space Engineering, Nov. 1959,
p. 55
Modern Repetitions by Independent Groups
"A number of observations were made of the behavior of a Foucault
pendulum during the eclipse of the Sun of 15 February 1981. ..A similar
result concerning a shift of the oscillation plane on 30 June 1954 was
seen by Prof. Maurice Allais at St. Germain-Laye. ..These experiments
should be repeated during other total eclipses of the sun." G.T. Jeverdan,
Rusu, G.I. and Antonesco, "Experiments Using the Foucault Pendulum During
the Solar Eclipse of 15 February, 1981", Bib. Astronomer, 1:18 (1981)
The Eclipse in Detail as seen by a Foucault Pendulum
In 1997, Allais published a 750-page book, The Anisotrophy of Space
(Paris: Edition Clement Juglar) in which he gives a general and complete
presentation of his experimental and theoretical research.
"..an abnormal lunar and solar influence also became apparent in the
form of a remarkable disturbance of the motions of the paraconical
pendulum during the total solar eclipse of June 30, 1954. The plane of
the oscillation of the paraconical pendulum shifted approximately 15
centesimal degrees during the eclipse. An azimuth curve traced for the
period extending from June 28, 1954 (8 p.m.) to July 1, 1954 (4 p.m.).
Just at the beginning of the eclipse, the azimuth of the plane of
oscillation suddenly was raised 5 centisimal degrees above the trend
which first characterized its mothion. Twenty minutes before the maximum
of the eclipse, which was recorded at 12:40, the deviation reached a
maximum of 15 centisimal degrees and then decreased progressively...it
is notable that nothing in the branch of the azimuth curve which
precedes the time corresponding to the center of symmetry is in any way
comparable to the very strong deviation noted during the eclipse. It
must be further underscored that during all continuous observation
periods, no variation of the azimuth curve similar to that corresponding
to the solar eclipse of June 30, 1954, was ever observed. ..The order
of magnitude is that of the Foucault effect, which , in the case of the
pendulum used, is itself some 3 micro-G (10^-6 dg/g)...In the field of
astronomy, where planetary motion is dealt with, it is therefore
necessary to match them with forces, the integral of which would add up
to zero over the path of these planets. ..From this it will be seen that
the abnormalities that have been revealed do not in any fashion run
contrary to the earlier experimental data, either on the surface of the
earth or even in the field of astronomy."
M. Allais, Aero/Space Engineering, Sept. 1959, p. 46-52; Aero/Space
Engineering, Oct. 1959, p. 51-55; Aero/Space Engineering, Nov. 1959, p.
55; C.R.A.S. (Fr.), 247,1958, p. 1428; ibid, p. 2284; C.R.A.S. (Fr.),
248,1959, p. 764; ibid, p. 359
There is no doubt an impressive lineage in peer review and laureates
involved here.
Here are some further into how others have interpreted the Allais' pendulum
results.
Engineering of Foucault pendulum
"The very best study by far, both from the experimental and theoretical
standpoints, is that of (Nobel Laureate) Kamerlingh Onnes. ..To my
knowledge the motion of the Foucault pendulum never was observed
continuously, day and night, over a period of time of about a month.
Foucault himself never published the results of his findings other than
in a general form." M. Allais, Aero/Space Engineering, Sept. 1959, p. 46-52
Some of the counterarguments are summarized at the end of this list in
references.
Experimental details
Prior to the eclipse onset, the deviation in the trend line never exceeded
1.2 centisimal degrees, yielding a sigma value of 12.5 in the signal to
noise ratio. Simultaneous with the onset of the eclipse, the plane of
oscillation shifted 5 centisimal degrees above the trend line support for
the Foucault effect generally, when that trend was centered over a 12 hour
time series in azimuths and the eclipse maximum.
The pendulum itself was released from a resting position every 20 minutes,
and its motion observed for about 14 minutes. The release amplitude for
the pendulum was 0.11 radians, and initiated by the burning of a thread.
After 14 minutes, the pendulum was stopped and it was again released in the
plane of the last observed azimuth. The releases continued every 20
minutes, day and night, such that 72 series of connected azimuth
observations correspond within each 24-hour period. The motion was
observed with an aiming system (needle) placed on a circle centered on the
vertical axis of the pendulum, as defined at rest, with a scale graduated
in centisimal degrees. The precision in determining the plane of
oscillation was estimated at 0.1 centisimal degrees. The curves analyzed
show the successive azimuths observed over time (degrees). Each data point
represents the release azimuth corresponding to eac h series of 14-minute
observations. The Foucault effects (at latitude )are 0.209/minute. In the
centisimal system of measuring angles, the right angle is divided into 100
degrees, each degree into 100 minutes, and each minute into 100 seconds. In
French, a centisimal degree is a grade. One centisimal degree thus equals
0.9 (90/100) degrees as defined based on 360 equi-divisions of a circle.
Pendulum description
An asymmetrical , paraconical pendulum was used with components: 1)
vertical bronze disc weighing 7.5 kg, attached to a bronze rod hung from a
bronze stirrup; 2) the stirrup rests on a 6.5 mm diameter steel ball, which
is free to roll in any direction in the horizontal plane. To rule out any
systematic effect, the steel ball was changed after each 20 minute
experiment. and other contact surfaces that might show wear or
time-dependent anomalies were changed weekly during extended observations.
While in motion, the pendulum can rotate over a total angle of 210
centisimal degrees. The pendulum rod and its stirrup weighed 4.5 kg, such
that the pendulum's total weight was 12 kg with equivalent pendulum length
of approximately 83 cm. The steel balls were high precision bearing
surfaces of tungsten carbide and cobalt.
The geographic coordinates were (), with the pendulum's center of gravity
1.5 m below ground (basement location).
The tangent to the mean correspond to the 2,160 time series of 14-minute
elementary observations making up the monthly series for June-July 1955,
and accurately reflect the Foucault effect.
Rotation of the pendulum's plane during the total solar eclipse of June 30,
1954.
Azimuths of the pendulum were observed from June 28, 8 p.m. to July 1, 4
a.m. A spike was observed at the onset of the eclipse, with the plane of
oscillation shifted approximately 15 centisimal degrees [(185-170) maximum
displacement from Foucault angular trend line], or 13.5 degrees [0.24
radians].
Prior to the eclipse onset, the deviation in the trend line never exceeded
1.2 centisimal degrees, yielding a sigma of 12.5 in the signal to noise
ratio. Simultaneous with the onset of the eclipse, the plane of oscillation
shifted 5 centisimal degrees above the trend line support for the Foucault
effect generally, when that trend was centered over a 12 hour time series
in azimuths and the eclipse maximum. This excursion in the angular plane
persisted throughout 2.5 hours of observations.
1) Much complex description goes into 'asymmetrical paraconical' aspects,
etc.--, but the Foucault effect is visible simply by a wire and bob--the
longer the wire, the better.
2) While systematic errors can be introduced by the mode of suspension
(friction), any universal joint here works, if rotation is possible. The
pendulum at the UN Building (NY) for example is a steel claw which bites
into a 2.5 mm wire. The claw is hinged on a universal joint. If you are
willing to reset it occasionally, then this need not be complicated.
3) The motor drive (to overcome air resistance) does not drive the joint
itself, but instead the bob end. In the UN pendulum case again, the wire is
around 60 feet, so obviously this cannot be pushed from a hinge with a
non-rigid wire. The usual way to drive these is eddy currents--a ring is
placed at the bob end which gets pulses of AC current. An embedded copper
plate in the bob itself, then gets a phase kick and the bob goes back and
forth without supervision.
All this last stuff is to say that continuous, unsupervised operation is
complex. If on the other hand someone lets the pendulum go every 20 minutes
for maybe 4 hours or so, then all these problems are just a wire and
weight.
So how long of a wire and how much weight? Like all pendulum, simple or
otherwise, they are linear for small displacements. So for example, the UN
has a 200 pound ball suspended from 60 feet and it takes around 10 seconds
to complete a swing. The length to amplitude ratio is around 20. So about a
3 foot swing in a 60 foot wire. I could imagine having a weight with a hook
eye on it. A thread is tied to a object (file cabinet drawer handle?) to
the side and after about 20 minutes, then the pendulum is stopped, a new
thread is tied and burned for the moment of release.
That is the idea which if of interest, would require some considerable
refinements.
The short version of this long note is that it may truly take a dynamic
measurement to uncover anything on 11 August eclipse, meaning that
gravimeter is stationary reading (null measurement).
The explanation offered for ignoring them is that more sensitive techniques
have not confirmed any anomaly, which is perhaps an overstatement since
sensitivity in a 13 degree angular change is not the issue and because it
may take a non-static test method. This dismissal looks more like a charge
of systematic error, but as reported by 3 different scientists (at least)
separated by 3 eclipses (17 years) and at least 4 separate observational
opportunities.
Clearly however viewed, it is a category one mystery.
Explanations
1) blocking of solar radiation pressure as a variable force on the earth's
mass. "very minute" earth oscillation modes from glancing radiation
(outside the path of totality) which "would generate a disturbing torque at
right angles to the earth's axis. Professor Allais' pendulum--if oriented
in the a plane sensitive to angular rotation--could have detected this.."
quote from, F.V. Flynt, "Comment", Aerospace Engineering May 1960, p. 113
Note that Flynt further argues that based on earth-moon mass ratios, the
displacement between the earth's central axis and the earth-moon two body
axis of rotation generates small centrifugal forces. This becomes not only
a limitation, in his opinion, to why Newtonian gravititational constant
measured terrestrially is known to within only 3-4 significant figures, but
also why high precision measurements in 8-10 digits are mutually exclusive
of each other depending on location, time in earth's rotation and
moon-earth positions. (It is a fact that these different measurement
exclude each other within their reported precision, but hard to imagine
that JPL orbital calculation programs, for instance, are not flagging the
two-and three-body corrections well beyond imagineable marks like this.
Anyway, FYI on this unrelated observation to the radiation pressure
discussion and right angle torquing in the plane of the pendulum based on
diffraction like effects).
___________________
So Allais reports two different eclipses, with the same result basically in
3 locations. The pendulum changes its angle of rotation by 13.5 degrees
maximum, then returns to normal rotation (Foucault effect, 0.19
degrees/minute) in the ensuing (and preceding) hours.
A somewhat strange paper reports same thing for a 1981 eclipse, later
writing in a footnote that after recording their deviations in the Foucault
pendulum, they uncovered the Allais observations (read: they weren't
looking for it).
Here is perhaps the strangest report from a very good journal (Physical
Review D3, (1971) 823, saying basically the same result with a torsion
pendulum. This is E.J. Saxl and M. Allen, "1970 Solar Eclipse as 'Seen" by
a Torsional Pendulum."
2) The explanation proposed: "may indicate a kind of gravitational fine
structure," or diffraction-like higher harmonics.
They argue that these effects manifest as 'apparent wavelike structure
observed over the course of many years at our Harvard laboratory. It cannot
be predicted on the basis of classical gravitational theory nor has it been
observed i the quasistationary experiments underlying this theory (e.g.
spring-operated gravimeters, seismographs, and interferometer devices)."
In other words, their belief is that it requires moving parts, or dynamic
measurements to reveal this.
While it would be tempting to attribute the alignment of positions to the
added vs. subtracted mass of the moon+sun side (during eclipse) and the
moon-sun side (2 weeks later) as having some particular role, they note
that classical calculations would show that the maximum such difference
involves no more than 16 micro-g variation for any given site on earth, vs.
their abrupt period change in the torsional behavior that is 5 orders of
magnitude higher based on any gravitational increase in the tension on the
pendulum wire (an extension equivalent to 1.2 kg increase in the 23.4 kg
weight (5% change)).
They conclude that "this agrees qualitatively (including the early onset of
the timing of the signal in the eclipse) with the work of Allais with a
paraconical (Foucault) pendulum. There the change of azimuth increased
substantially in the first half of the eclipse of 30 June 1954. Both these
effects would seem to have a gravitational basis which cannot be explained
by any accepted classical theory...This leads to the same conclusion
arrived at by Allais.."
The particulars:
The eclipse was 7 March 1970, recorded at Harvard. The torsion pendulum is
a rod horizontal with two test masses (Cavendish balance) or torus (in
Saxl case, the torus donut shape is the mass oscillating) and the
centerpoint suspended by a fine quartz or coated conducting thread which
oscillates the the total weight in a plane. Saxl and Allen measure the time
for the clockwise and counterclockwise (back and forth) motion on its first
swing from rest. Variations in this time are observed during the eclipse,
with reference to Allais' results. The timing itself is automated and
digitally recorded from a mirror attached to the rod and signalling to a
photocell device. The path traversed is a constant fixed part. They also
report 'qualitative agreement with other eclipses" using their torsion
device, but only with automatic timing and non-ferrous/non-metallic parts
for the quantitative tests. Temperature control on their 'isoelastic'
Ni-Span "C" suspension wire was 21.7+0.6 C. This wire was kept under
constant load (for 17 years!) to avoid possible material load creep or
deviations from equilibrium. It s operative baseline was established 6.25 h
prior to the eclipse onset for comparison and run-in the wire to avoid
mechanical hysteresis, or stability, slippage problems. The pendulum was
grounded and charged to 4900 V for comparison of EM effects or artifacts.
The eclipse was around 96.5% total for Boston, with constant angle rotation
recorded from 10:15 am to 3:40 pm. An average of 5 consecutive (grounded
electrical) were recorded and averaged to give deviations (period, 29
seconds, integration time per average data point, 2.5 minutes, or 5 periods
of oscillation). In their observations, a 0.0372% increase in the period
(29.570 second baseline) is seen to begin its rise with the eclipse onset,
peak just after the eclipse maximum (29.581 second max.) and then decrease
to an offset value. The resolution for times are 10 microseconds and 100
microsecond significant digits--this would correspond to a sigma for signal
to noise ratio of around 31 or higher. Without any 5 period averaging, the
precision of the quartz-crystal timer itself is far higher, 10 parts per
billion.
They conclude finally "The findings with the torsion pendulum, the
significant mass of which moves perpendicularly to the geogravitic vector,
seem to indicate the possibility of a fine structure in these observations
neither predicted nor recorded using the orthodox methods of
quasistationary gravitational investigations."
References:
1) M. Allais, French Academy of Sciences: C.R.A.S. (1959) 245, 1875; 245,
2001; 244, 2469; 245, 2467;245;2170; in English in Aero/Space Engineering,
September and October, 1959 (18, (9) and (10).
2) F. Flynt, Comment, Aero/Space Engineering, May 1960
3) E. Saxl And M Allen, Phys. Rev. D3; 823, 1971
4) J. Haringx and H. Suchtelen, Phillips Technical Review, 19, 236, (1957/8)
5) G. Gillies, Metrologia, 24 (Suppl) 1-56 (1987)
6) L.B. Slichter, M. Caputo, and C.L Hager, J. Geophys. REs. 70(6),
1541-1551 (1965). The large, Trieste horizontal pendulums and a La Coste
gravimeter are used to test a limit of g=gn(1-2.5x10^-13) on the variation
of gravity due to shielding of the Sun by the Moon during a solar eclipse."
Space Shuttle and NASA Experimental Methods
Avron,Y., Livio, M. "Considerations regarding a space-shuttle
measurement of the gravitational constant," Astrophys. J., 304, L61-L64,
(1986).
Esposito, P.B. "Evaluation of the geocentric gravitional constant from
(Mars) Viking doppler and range data," J. Geophys. Res. 84: 3654-3658
(1979).
Farinella, P., Milani, A., Nobili, A.M. "The measurement of the
gravitional constant in an orbiting laboratory," Astrophys. Space Sci.
73: 417-433 (1980)
Gravitometers During Solar Eclipses
Dobrokhotov, U.S., Parisky, N., and Lysenko, V. "Observations of tidal
variations of gravity in Kiev during the solar eclipse on Feb. 15,
1961", Symp. Intern. Marees, Terestres, 4th, Comm. Obs. Roy. Belg. Ser.
Geophys., 58, 66-67, 1961.
Tomaschek, R. "Tidal gravity measurements in the Shetlands, effect of
the total eclipse of June 30, 1954, Nature, 175, 937-942 (1955)
Schlichter, L.B., Caputo, M. and Hager, C. J. Geophys. Res. 70: 1541
(1965)
Stacey, F.D. and Tuck, G.J., "Geophysical Evidence for Non-Newtonian
Gravity," Nature, 292: 230 (1981)
Tidal Correction Terms
Longman, I.M. Formulas for Computing the Tidal Accelerations Due to the
Moon and Sun, J. Geophys. Res. 64:2351 (1959)
Adamuti, I.A., Il Nuovo Cimento, 5C, 189 (1982)
Engineering of Foucault pendulum
Crane, H. R. "Foucault pendulum 'wall clock', Amer. J. Phys. 62, 33
(1995); note, Crane received 1988 Phillips Award, for his 'unusually
broad, deep, and persistent service to the physics education community.'
_____________________
The Dark Side of Gravity
Volume 285, Number 5424, Issue of 2 July 1999
©1999 by The American Association for the Advancement of Science.
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/vol285/issue5424/sindex.shtml
Text of article is:
The Dark Side of Gravity
Is gravity on Earth affected by a solar eclipse? Old observations of
strange behavior from a Foucault pendulum have persuaded NASA scientists to
test the notion during the total solar eclipse that will happen on 11
August.
The Foucault pendulum, invented in 1851 by French astronomer Jean Bernard
Leon Foucault, was the first instrument that could demonstrate Earth's
rotation without reference to the stars. The swing direction of the long
pendulum remains constant as Earth rotates underneath it, which means its
path appears to move,
traveling a full circle every 24 hours at the poles and taking longer
closer to the equator (32 hours in Paris, for example).
Maurice Allais, an amateur astronomer and 1988 economics Nobelist, claimed
to find what he called "remarkable anomalies" in a Foucault pendulum's
swing at his Paris laboratory during the total solar eclipses of 1954 and
1959. During one eclipse, he measured a slight deviation --an extra 0.15
degree--in movement of the plane under the pendulum's swing, indicating the
pendulum was speeding up slightly. This implied a tiny (3 millionths of 1g)
increase in Earth's gravity field. His published report, "Should the Laws
of Gravitation Be Reconsidered?" lay in obscurity until recently, when David
Noever of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, was
rummaging through the Web for information relating to his work on
gravity.
Now Noever and colleague Ron Koczor plan to use a state-of-the-art gravity
sensor to test Allais's observation during the upcoming eclipse. The NASA
team will compare their results with a similar test by Edcon Inc., a
gravitometer manufacturer in Denver, as well as observations at Foucault
pendulums in Europe that lie in the path of the eclipse.
The duo doubts they will find the eclipse anomaly. Still, says Noever,
"Allais could have stumbled onto something important." Possible
explanations are
highly speculative, ranging from quantum fluctuations in the vacuum of
space to radiation pressure changes from the blockage of sunlight.
______________________________
Null result on torsion pendulum
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1991fnps.conf.....U&db_key=AST&high=37692492d311278
The 1990 solar eclipse as seen by a torsion pendulum
Authors:
ULLAKKO, K.; LIU, YONG; XIE, ZELIANG
Affiliation:
Helsinki Univ. of Technology, Espoo (Finland).
Journal:
In Oulu Univ., Proceedings of the 25th Annual
Conference of the Finnish Physical Society 1 p (SEE
N92-10362 01-70)
Publication Date:
00/1991
Category:
Solar Physics
Origin:
STI
NASA/STI Keywords:
FINLAND, PENDULUMS, SOLAR ECLIPSES, TORSION,
TEMPERATURE INVERSIONS,
TORSIONAL VIBRATION
Bibliographic Code:
1991fnps.conf.....U
Abstract
In July 1990 there was a total solar eclipse in Helsinki, Finland. The
results of Saxl and Allen, made at Harvard University (U.S.)
during the total solar eclipse in March 1970, were tested using equipment
which was quite similar to that used in Harvard. Because
the possible effects were expected to be extremely small, special attention
was paid to avoid vibrations of the surroundings. Also the
temperature of the equipment was controlled in order to eliminate changes
of temperature due to thermal expansion of the bars of the
pendulum and the suspension wire. Ten times better resolution than Saxl and
Allen was achieved. Four measurements, each lasting
nine hours, were performed during the night preceding the eclipse, during
the eclipse and the night after the eclipse and two weeks
after the eclipse. In the limits of errors no effects were observed. The
origin of the effects reported by Saxl and Allen must have been
in the experimental system.
Periodic solar influence on torsion pendulum
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1977PrTGE...8..201K&db_key=AST&high=37692492d311715
Title:
Effect of solar rotation on free vibrations of a
torsional pendulum
Authors:
KOLESNIKOVA, E. M.; KOLESNIKOV, S. M.
Journal:
Problemy Teorii Gravitatsii i Elementarnykh
Chastits, no. 8, 1977, p. 201-214. In Russian.
Publication Date:
00/1977
Category:
Solar Physics
Origin:
STI
NASA/STI Keywords:
FREE VIBRATION, PENDULUMS, SOLAR ROTATION,
AUTOCORRELATION,
GEOMAGNETISM, MECHANICAL OSCILLATORS, TWENTY-SEVEN
DAY VARIATION
Bibliographic Code:
1977PrTGE...8..201K
Abstract
Results are presented for one year of continuous measurements of the
free-vibration amplitudes of a torsional pendulum, which
reveal 27-day variations correlated with solar rotation. It is shown that
the observed variations are not connected with either
geomagnetic disturbances or solar activity as given by Wolf sunspot
numbers. An autocorrelation analysis of the measured
free-vibration amplitudes is performed, and peaks in the autocorrelation
coefficient are found at periods of 27, 28, and 30 days,
which indicates the effect of a perturbation with a slowly varying period.
It is proposed that the rotation of solar active regions
responsible for forming the boundaries of the interplanetary-magnetic-field
sector structure affects the free vibration of the
torsional pendulum and that the limb passage of these regions subjects the
earth to the same forces as those which accompany the
swinging of a low-frequency mechanical oscillator. The behavior of a
one-dimensional mechanical oscillator exposed to random
parametric perturbations is analyzed.
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1991AcASn..32....1G&db_key=AST&high=37692492d311715
Title:
INSPECTING THE PERIOD CHANGES OF THE TORSION PENDULUM
DURING SOLAR
AND LUNAR ECLIPSES
Authors:
GUAN, T.R.; HU, E.K.
Journal:
ACTA ASTRONOMICA SINICA V.32:1, P. 1, 1991
Publication Date:
03/1991
Origin:
KNUDSEN
Bibliographic Code:
1991AcASn..32....1G
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1975PrTGE...6..205S&db_key=AST&high=37692492d311715
Title:
A method for detecting gravitational waves with
the aid of torsion pendulums
Authors:
SHIROKOV, M. F.; BONDAREV, B. V.
Journal:
Problemy Teorii Gravitatsii i Elementarnykh
Chastits, no. 6, 1975, p. 205, 206. In Russian.
Publication Date:
00/1975
Category:
Astrophysics
Origin:
STI
NASA/STI Keywords:
GRAVIMETRY, GRAVITATIONAL WAVES, PENDULUMS,
TORSIONAL VIBRATION,
SEISMIC WAVES, TORQUE, WAVE EQUATIONS
Bibliographic Code:
1975PrTGE...6..205S
Abstract
The paper considers two identical torsion pendulums whose beams form a
right angle. It is shown that the rotational moments
caused by some gravitational wave will be equal in magnitude, but opposite
in direction. It is concluded that this peculiar effect
may be exploited to distinguish the response of a detector to gravitational
radiation against a background of oscillations due to
seismic events or other causes.
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1982NCimC...5..189A&db_key=AST&high=37692492d317442
Title:
The screen effect of the earth in the TETG -
Theory of a screening experiment of a sample body at
the equator, using the earth as a screen
Authors:
ADAMUTI, I. A.
Affiliation:
AA(Institutul de Cercetari si Proiectari Pentru
Industria Electrotehnica, Bucharest, Rumania)
Journal:
Nuovo Cimento C, Serie 1, vol. 5C, Mar.-Apr. 1982,
p. 189-208.
Publication Date:
04/1982
Category:
Astrophysics
Origin:
STI
NASA/STI Keywords:
ANGULAR ACCELERATION, EARTH SURFACE, ELECTRIC
FIELDS, PLANETARY
GRAVITATION, SCREEN EFFECT, SOLAR GRAVITATION,
THERMODYNAMICS,
CENTRIFUGAL FORCE, DIURNAL VARIATIONS, EARTH
ROTATION, EQUATORS,
NEWTON THEORY
Bibliographic Code:
1982NCimC...5..189A
Abstract
The acceleration of gravity, g, is calculated at the same point on the
earth's surface for the cases of the equator at midday and at
midnight. The calculations are for an ellipsoid of revolution of the earth
around an axis projected from the plane of the equator.
Values of g are calculated in terms of the Newton and
electrothermodynamical theories, for the earth, sun, and the centrifugal
rotation and revolution of the earth. The results are presented in tabular
form for the midday and midnight cases, and calculations
are conducted to verify the total differences between the two points, for
the two theoretical frameworks, by means of a pendulum
and a ballistic gravimeter.
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1976GBzG...85..513T&db_key=AST&high=37692492d317442
Title:
Bottlinger's and Majorana's absorption of the
gravitational force and the tide-generating forces
Authors:
TREDER, H.-J.
Affiliation:
AA(Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften,
Sternwarte, Babelsberg, East Germany)
Journal:
Gerlands Beitraege zur Geophysik, vol. 85, no. 6,
1976, p. 513-520. In German.
Publication Date:
00/1976
Category:
Astrophysics
Origin:
STI
NASA/STI Keywords:
EARTH-MOON SYSTEM, GRAVITATION THEORY, NEWTON
THEORY, TIDES,
ABSORPTANCE, CELESTIAL MECHANICS, NEUTRON STARS,
PENDULUMS
Bibliographic Code:
1976GBzG...85..513T
Abstract
Classical theories concerning the mechanical shielding of gravitation and a
theory developed by Riemann (1850/51) lead to a
modification of Newton's law of gravitation. Such modified relations are
provided by gravitation laws reported by Seeliger (1895,
1909) and Majorana (1920). Seeliger's modification leads according to
Bottlinger (1912) to fluctuations of the length of the moon
in connection with the lunar eclipse. Values for the constant k of
Majorana's relation are discussed, taking into account
experimental determinations of higher accuracy on the basis of measurements
of the tide-generating forces and a utilization of
stellar relations.
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1997grgp.conf..451D&db_key=AST&high=37692492d317442
Title:
PLANNING TO MEASURE G WITH A PENDULUM
Authors:
DE MARCHI, A.; ORTOLANO, M.; PERIALE, F.; RUBIOLA, E.
Journal:
General Relativity and Gravitational Physics;
Proceedings of the 12th Italian Conference, edited by
M. Bassan, V. Ferrari, M. Francaviglia, F. Fucito,
and I. Modena. World Scientific Press, 1997.,
p.451
Publication Date:
00/1997
Origin:
ADS
Bibliographic Code:
1997grgp.conf..451D
*****************************************************************************
Dr. David Noever Space Sciences
Lab
Mail Code:
SD48 Microgravity
Science And Applications
NASA
Marshall Space Flight Center 256-544-7783
(Ph)
Huntsville, AL 35812 USA 256-544-2102 (FAX)
e-mail: david.noever@msfc.naxa.gov
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Subject: PROTOCOLLO SPERIMENTALE PER
LA MISURAZIONE DEL MOVIMENTO DIPENDULA
>Date: Fri, 23 Jul 1999 11:00:22 -0600
>To: "Antonio Iovane" <iovane@tin.ot>
>From:
David Noever <david.noever@msfc.naxa.gov>
>Subject: PROTOCOLLO SPERIMENTALE PER LA MISURAZIONE DEL MOVIMENTO DI PENDUL=
A
>Cc:
>Bcc:
>X-Attachments:
>
This would
seem to support the idea that some good progress can be made by
observing
the variation in a stationary weight-pendulum. You would want to
see if the
support itself shows variation due to modes of the earth
changing the vertical through tiny oscillations in itself.
David
>***
>
>(1) M. Allais, Mouvements du pendule paraconique et éclipse totale de
>soleil du 30 juin 1954,
>C. R. Acad. Sci., 245, 2001-2003, 1957.
>(2) M. Allais, Unpublished work, 1959, cited in reference [3].
>(3) M. Allais, L'anisotropie de l'espace, Clément Juglar, Paris, 1997.
>(4) L. A. Savrov, Experiment with paraconic pendulums during the november
>3, 1994 solar
>eclipse in Brazil, Measurement Techniques, 40 (6), 511-516, 1997.
>(5) E. J. Saxl and M. Allen, 1970 solar eclipse as 'seen' by a torsion
>pendulum, Phys. Rev. D,
>3, 823-825, 1971.
>(6) T. Kuusela, Effect of the solar eclipse on the period of a torsion
>pendulum, Phys. Rev. D,
>43(6), 2041-2043, 1991.
>(7) T. Kuusela, New measurements with a torsion pendulum during the solar
>eclipse, General
>Relativity and Gravitation, 4, 543-550, 1992.
>(8) L. Jun, L. Jianguo, Z. Xuerong, V. Liakhovets, M. Lomonosov and A.
>Ragyn, Observation
>of 1990 solar eclipse by a torsion pendulum, Phys. Rev. D, 44(8),
>2611-2613, 1991.
>(9) D. C. Mishra, M. B. S. Vyaghreswara Rao, Temporal variation in gravity
>field
>during solar eclipse on 24 October 1995, Current Science, 72(11), 782-783,
>1997.
>(10) In this point of view, the usual gravitational field can be
>considered as the product of the
>flux of graviton momentum from the Sun and the cross-section s. Each of
>these factors is
>then undetermined, only their product is fixed.
>(11) Note, however, that Mishra et al., who recorded the gravity field
>intensity during the
>October 1995 eclipse (9), observed one significant oscillation just before
>the eclipse, which is
>very reminiscent of Saxl and Allen's oscillations. The amplitude of the
>effect was about
>$10mgal=10-7m/s2 and it lasted for somewhat more than half an hour.
>J. GUERIN et al. SOLAR ECLIPSE AND PENDULUM 6
>
>The solar eclipse and the pendulum : need for experiments
>
>J. Guérin(1) and C. Gay(2)
>(1) 94 Boulevard Maurice Barrès, 92200 Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
>(2) Laboratoire CNRS - Elf Atochem (UMR 167), 95, rue Danton, B.P.108,
>92303 Levallois-Perret cedex, France,
cgay@pobox.com
>
>PACS :
>PACS :
>PACS :
>
>Abstract
>We discuss experiments reported by various authors concerning the
>perturbed motion of
>paraconic and torsion penduli during solar eclipses in the last decades.
>We argue that the
>conclusive and non-conclusive results might all proceed from a
>low-frequency tilt of the
>apparent vertical direction during the eclipse. Very simple devices,
>including penduli at rest
>or existing seismographs or gravimeters, could provide an easier, more
>reliable test.
>Experiments with paraconic and torsion penduli could also be made more
>sensitive to such a
>tilt. We discuss various effects, and none of them appears to account for
>this tilt, which still
>remains a mystery.
>
>
>Introduction
>Total Solar eclipses, such as that on August 11th 1999, are visible at
>least as partial eclipses
>from a large region in the world. In that region and elsewhere, is it
>possible to detect the
>eclipse by using a simple pendulum ? The question seems queer. The eclipse
>is a basic light
>phenomenon: the Sun is hidden behind the Moon. As for the periodic motion
>of the
>pendulum, it has no evident reason for being influenced by the eclipse.
>Yet various authors conducted the observation of a pendulum during solar
>eclipses in the past
>decades. Some of them (1,2,4) used a paraconic pendulum (a modified
>version of Foucault's
>pendulum, whose articulation consists in the contact between two planes
>via a sphere, see
>Figure 1). Their observations focused on the orientation of the pendulum
>oscillation plane.
>Other authors (5,6,7,8) used a torsion pendulum (see Figure 1) and
>recorded the pendulum
>period. Some of these experiments yielded very intriguing results: a
>marked effect was
>observed in coincidence with the duration of the eclipse. The main
>observed features are the
>following. (i) The amplitude of the effect observed in some of these
>experiments is strikingly
>high: the oscillation plane of the paraconic pendulum has been observed by
>Allais and
>coworkers (1,2) to deviate by as much as several degrees (see Figures 2
>and 3) and the period
>of the torsion pendulum was observed by Saxl and Allen (5) to undergo a
>2.7 10-4 relative
>increase (see Figure 4). (ii) In some experiments, the effect started
>before the eclipse had
>reached the observation locus (5), or more precisely when the eclipse
>started on Earth (1, 2).
>(iii) In the experiment by Saxl and Allen (5), a cyclic change in the
>pendulum period was also
>observed for a few hours just before the eclipse started locally. This
>cyclic change had a
>period of one hour and was also observed a fortnight later, when the Moon
>and the Sun were
>in opposite directions, as seen from the Earth. In other experiments,
>Allais and coworkers also
>reported unexpectedly strong cyclic perturbations of the pendulum motion
>over long periods
>of time (sideral day, month), similar to tidal effects (see (3) and
>references therein). These
>various observations led them to the conclusion (1,2,5,3) that the laws of
>gravitation should
>be revised, although they did not outline the elements of such a revision.
>The other authors
>(6,8,4) only detected a weak effect, if any at all. Kuusela, however,
>(6,7) also measured the
>mean position of his torsion pendulum in the horizontal plane and obtained
>interesting results
>which we shall discuss at length later.
>Such experiments are highly unpredictable (especially those with a
>paraconic pendulum)
>since many phenomena affect the pendulum motion. Among these, some are
>known, although
>unpredictable (e.g., seismic activity), and others are predictable
>qualitatively, although not
>always quantitatively (tidal effects on the Earth crust). In such a
>context, established temporal
>correlations with such a definite phenomenon as a solar eclipse provide a
>suggestive
>indication that it may indeed influence the pendulum motion. On account of
>all these
>experiments, the influence of a solar eclipse on penduli seems
>established. The origin of such
>an effect, however, remains unknown and should be accounted for. The fact
>that some
>experiments do not show any significant effect should also be explained.
>In the present note, we essentially focus on the last point. Indeed, we
>argue that these
>experiments lead to diverging conclusions (existence or absence of a
>significant effect)
>because they actually all test the same phenomenon in an indirect way: we
>show qualitatively
>that a slow tilt of the apparent vertical direction at the experiment
>locus during the eclipse
>could account for the positive and negative results obtained. We finally
>discuss a few possible
>origins for such a tilt and the improvements that could be brought to
>previous experiments.
>
>
>Apparent gravity change
>The motion of a pendulum can be perturbed either by a force acting on the
>pendulum itself, or
>by an acceleration of its attachment point. Both types of perturbations
>are essentially
>equivalent. In the present situation, it seems excluded that the pendulum
>could be excited at a
>frequency close to the pendulum resonance frequency: the characteristic
>time-scales of the
>eclipse (a few minutes up to a few hours) are much longer than those of
>the pendulum (at
>most a few seconds). Therefore, the perturbation of the pendulum motion
>can only originate
>in a slow excitation whose amplitude is essentially that of the observed
>resulting pendulum
>perturbation.
>This slow excitation could be due to a direct, specific force acting on
>the pendulum, for
>instance of magnetic or electrostatic origin. Electrostatic effects were
>ruled out at least in the
>experiments by Saxl and Allen (5). The magnetism of the Moon is very much
>weaker than
>that of the Earth, and the interactions between the two have no reason for
>presenting any
>accident during the eclipse. Magnetic perturbations on Earth during an
>eclipse are likely to be
>rather due to the solar wind, which consists mainly in electrons, protons
>and Helium nuclei:
>the Moon stops the solar wind, which certainly perturbs the magnetic field
>around the Earth.
>As a consequence, it may affect both the pendulum (if it happens to be
>sensitive to the
>magnetic field) and the Earth itself. The solar wind, however, is kept at
>a great distance by the
>magnetic field of the Earth. As a consequence, the effects of the
>corresponding shadow could
>not be precisely time-correlated with the eclipse. Such an origin of the
>effect thus seems to be
>ruled out too.
>If the excitation is due either to a non-specific force acting on the
>pendulum or to an
>acceleration of the attachment point (i.e., of the whole experimental
>setup), then it is
>equivalent to a slow change in the apparent gravity (in direction and
>possibly in intensity). We
>now show that such a very low-frequency deviation might explain, at least
>qualitatively, the
>observations that were reported, except for the cyclic changes observed by
>Saxl and Allen
>(see point (iii) above).
>Allais and coworkers (1,2) observed the azimuth of the oscillation plane
>of the paraconic
>pendulum in the following way. Every 20 minutes, they dropped the pendulum
>from the last
>observed azimuth and with the initial amplitude. We argue that such
>observations are
>consistent with the assumption that the apparent vertical direction had
>changed. Indeed,
>suppose that the oscillation plane is oriented, say, North-South, and that
>the vertical direction
>is changed towards the East or the West. If the azimuth of the oscillation
>plane is only
>measured from one side (say, North) with respect to the usual pendulum
>rest position, then
>the inclination of the oscillation plane due to the change in the apparent
>vertical direction can
>be wrongly interpreted as an azimuth change. Moreover, in such a case, a
>real increment of
>the oscillation plane azimuth is introduced when the pendulum is dropped
>from the last
>azimuth observed relatively to the usual rest position with an increased
>amplitude. Repeatedly
>dropping the pendulum in such a way then agregates the azimuth increments
>into a rotation of
>the oscillation plane, which can be ill-interpreted as the primary effect.
>Our assumption could
>also explains why some of the experiments did not yield any significant
>results: the absolute
>azimuth of the oscillation plane at the time of the eclipse appears to be
>a key factor, as well as
>the repeated pendulum dropping. Savrov concludes that his experiments (4)
>yield no
>significant effect. But his pendulum experiences a one-go motion over the
>whole eclipse
>duration at that point. Moreover, the method used for measuring the
>azimuth (by fitting the
>trajectory with an ellipse) is less sensitive to a tilt of the vertical
>direction.
>Saxl and Allen (5) used a torsion pendulum and observed a change in the
>oscillation period.
>Through various counter-experiments, they ruled out several possible
>origins of the period
>increase: deviations from the linear elasticity of the wire, temperature
>change, electrostatic
>effects, weight increase. Our assumption of a change in the apparent
>vertical direction would
>be equivalent to a tilt of the whole apparatus: the resulting flexion of
>the upper part of the
>wire could affect its elastic response and hence alter the pendulum
>period. Apparently, the
>authors did not check for the effect of such a tilt. It is clear that the
>sensitivity
>of such an experimental setup as a torsion pendulum to a drift of the
>apparent vertical
>direction depends on several parameters, including the detailed elastic
>response of the wire to
>a static flexion near the attachment point. That may well explain why
>recent experiments
>showed a much weaker variation of the pendulum period (8,6,7).
>Kuusela also used a torsion pendulum. Apart from the period, he very
>interestingly recorded
>the mean position of the torsion pendulum wire (6,7). On both occasions,
>he observed a very
>slow deviation of the wire mean position, which was more important during
>these eclipses
>than at other times under otherwise similar conditions. Moreover, during
>his Mexico
>experiment (7), the mean position in the East-West direction showed a
>marked accident (see
>Figure 5) when the eclipse started at the point of observation (10-6rad
>mean tilt of the wire
>over a fifteen minute period of time). So far, that result is probably the
>strongest indication
>that our assumption may be correct: the apparent vertical direction may
>well be tilted during
>total solar eclipses.
>
>
>Possible origins and discussion
>We now wish to discuss a few possible origins for the tilt of the apparent
>vertical direction
>during the eclipse. One of the most striking features of the experiments
>on paraconic and
>torsion penduli is that in some cases, an effect appears before the
>eclipse has reached the
>observation locus. Indeed, the oscillations reported by Saxl and Allen (5)
>start at least two
>hours before the local start of the eclipse, and similarly, the azimuth
>deviation reported by
>Allais coincides with the global start of the eclipse (1,2). We therefore
>need to look for an
>effect that can propagate from the point where the eclipse is first
>visible on Earth towards the
>point of observation. Kuusela's observation of a 10-6rad tilt is probably
>the most reliable order
>of magnitude we have so far. It corresponds to 10-6 times the gravity
>acceleration g, i.e., a 10-
>5m/s2 acceleration. Another major feature of the effect is its long
>time-scale: it smoothly
>covers (1,2) the major part of the eclipse duration (typically T=10-4s).
>We now discuss the
>orders of magnitude of the effects we can think of.
>The most immediate effect of an eclipse is the shadow that moves on the
>Earth surface. The
>shadow causes a default in radiation pressure from the Sun, which amounts
>to a net attractive
>force towards the Sun, which could perturb the Earth motion. The intensity
>of the Sun
>radiation pressure at the Earth distance, however, is of order 5 10-6Pa,
>which is far too weak
>to account for the observed acceleration. The shadow is also known to
>cause important
>atmospheric effects: the temperature can locally drop by several degrees
>during total eclipses.
>But the velocity of the Moon shadow at the surface of the Earth is always
>supersonic. Hence,
>a transmission through the atmosphere is excluded. The only possible
>transmission modes are
>then a sound wave through the soil or through the whole Earth interior.
>The Earth motion is
>therefore globally affected, and the required order of magnitude is a
>10-6m/s2 linear
>acceleration or a 10-6rad/s change in the Earth angular velocity. This is
>more than atmospheric
>effects can satisfactorily explain. Indeed, even strong winds over the
>whole Earth surface
>would not sufficiently alter the planet rotation. Similarly, the
>temperature drop in the shadow
>region induces pressure changes in the atmosphere and air displacements
>towards the ground,
>thus causing a translation of the Earth itself in the opposite direction.
>Again, the order of
>magnitude of such an effect is highly insufficient.
>Another possible origin of the perturbation is a gravity effect. The Moon
>and the Sun certainly
>each perturb the pendulum motion, due to their gravitational attraction
>acting on the
>pendulum itself. They also cause tidal deformations of the Earth surface
>which in turn
>influence the pendulum motion through an acceleration of its attachment
>point. But the Moon
>and Sun respective motions relatively to the Earth are not known to
>present any special
>accident at the time of the eclipse, when they are aligned with Earth.
>Therefore, such effects
>alone cannot account for the observed perturbations which coincide with
>the eclipse. One
>could also think of a gravitational lense effect. The deviation angle due
>to the Moon is of
>order GMMRM-1c-2=3 10-11rad, where G is the constant of gravitation, RM
>and MM are the
>radius and mass of the Moon, and c is the speed of light. This weak
>gravitational lense might
>somewhat locally focus the Sun attraction. This effect is several orders
>of magnitude too
>weak, however, to account for the observed acceleration. Any gravity
>effect must therefore be
>searched for elsewhere. One could also imagine that the Moon might screen
>a small part of
>the gravitational attraction from the Sun, as if the cross-section of
>gravitons with matter had
>some non-zero value s (m2/kg) (10). Such a "gravity shadow" effect would
>influence the
>pendulum motion in two ways. First, the whole Earth motion would be
>perturbed by the
>corresponding effective repulsive force from the Sun: it would be globally
>pushed away, and
>its rotation would be first slightly slowed down (during the first half of
>the eclipse), then
>speeded up, and this global perturbation would influence the pendulum
>through its attachment
>point. Second, the "gravity shadow" would affect directly the pendulum
>during the time when
>the eclipse is visible from that point. The order of magnitude of such an
>effect is certainly too
>weak to account for a 10-5m/s2 acceleration of the Earth. Indeed, the
>screening effect of the
>Moon would be of the order of the dimensionless parameter srMRM, where rM
>is the Moon
>density. During the eclipse, a fraction srMRM(RM2 /RE2) of the attraction
>from the Sun would
>be screened. To yield the correct Earth acceleration, the cross-section
>should be of order
>s=10-10m2/kg. Such a value is too high by several orders of magnitude, as
>can be seen from
>some other interesting consequences of such a hypothetical "gravity
>shadow" effect. (i)
>Similar, more pronounced effects on the Moon should take place during Moon
>eclipses. (ii)
>There should be an additional slow precession of the perihelium of planet
>trajectories (since
>the apparent center of mass of the Sun would be slightly shifted towards
>the planet). For
>instance, one second of arc per century for Mercury roughly corresponds
>s=10-19m2/kg, which
>is very much smaller than the above estimation derived from the pendulum
>effect. (iii)
>Another consequence would be a slight correction to the apparent mass of
>celestial bodies
>(e.g., for the same smaller value of s, the Sun screening factor would be
>of order 10-6), and
>possibly correlated cosmological consequences.
>
>
>Conclusion
>As emphasized earlier, the measured orders of magnitude for the effect of
>total solar eclipses
>on the pendulum motion are important. We discussed various experiments
>performed with
>paraconic and torsion penduli and showed that the results could be
>understood in terms of a
>tilt of the apparent vertical direction during the eclipse. Moreover,
>Kuusela's observations (7)
>concerning the mean position of his torsion pendulum seem to indicate that
>such a tilt might
>be as important as 10-6rad. With the tilt interpretation in mind, it might
>be worth
>reconsidering data from previous measurements, and also carrying out new
>measurements. In
>principle, simpler devices should also allow for a similar observation of
>the tilt. The simplest
>is a pendulum at rest. Seismographs or spring-operated gravimeters could
>also be used. It
>should be noted, however, that Saxl and Allen (5) give one observation
>that does not seem to
>have been observed elsewhere, namely the slow oscillations of the pendulum
>period prior to
>the eclipse (see Introduction, point iii). They mention that they observed
>these oscillations
>many times using their torsion pendulum, but that static devices such as
>gravimeters do not
>allow for such an observation (11). Hence, paraconic and torsion penduli
>may well be more
>sensitive than a gravimeter or a pendulum at rest to a tilt of the
>apparent vertical direction.
>Further experiments with torsion and paraconic penduli, however, should be
>conducted with
>increased concern for such shifts of the vertical direction: (i) the
>corresponding sensitivity
>should be increased (for a torsion pendulum, by use of a shorter and more
>rigid wire, possibly
>with anisotropic elasticity), and (ii) the apparatus should be calibrated
>by artificially tilting
>the setup.
>Once it is detected, the time-dependence of the effect, as it is recorded
>at the observation
>locus and possibly at several places simultaneously, could yield precious
>indications on the
>physical origin of the phenomenon. For instance, if it originates in the
>shadow, its time-
>dependence at the beginning of the eclipse should then be tightly related
>to the displacement
>of the Moon penumbria and shadow at the surface of the Earth, which can be
>evaluated
>easily. The effect of the shadow on the atmosphere is much complex: it
>depends on the local
>geography (ocean or continent, tropics or polar region) and possibly on
>the meteorology. In
>the vicinity of the instants of tangential contact, however, these
>variations should depend only
>(to first order) on the shadow characteristics and should therefore follow
>the corresponding
>simple power laws. Such power laws could be compared to measured
>variations of the effect
>on the pendulum. In all types of experiments, the global and local
>circumstances of the
>eclipse certainly also play a role, and their influence might also yield
>indications on the
>physical origin of the whole effect.
>We considered a few possible physical origins for this tilt of the
>vertical direction. None of
>them proved convincing: magnetic effects do not seem to explain the time
>coincidence of the
>effect with the eclipse, while other effects (atmospheric, gravitational)
>do not appear to yield
>the correct order of magnitude. The origin of the perturbation of the
>pendulum motion thus
>remains mainly unexplained. Cross-correlated recordings with simple setups
>(penduli,
>gravimeters, seismographs) or more demanding measurements (such as
>astronomical
>observations of distant stars and accurate laser measurements of the
>Earth-Moon distance),
>and various simultaneous counter-experiments (recording of the magnetic
>field, etc) will be
>needed in the future to shed some light on this mysterious eclipse effect.
>
>
>Acknowledgments
>We gratefully acknowledge interesting discussions with François Bondu,
>Itamar Borukhov,
>Pascale Fabre, Serge Koutchmy, Tom Kuusela, Stéphane Lavignac, Christian
>Ligoure,
>Laurence Ramos, Patrick Rocher, Geneviève Roult, André Schröder.
>
>Figure captions
>
>1. The paraconic pendulum is articulated through a sphere in contact with
>one horizontal
>plane and one mobile plane (a). It thus has two rotational degrees of
>freedom. The torsion
>pendulum (b) has only one rotational degree of freedom.
>2. Allais 1954.
>3. Allais 1959.
>4. Saxl and Allen 1971.
>5. x and y mean positions of the torsion pendulum wire as recorded by
>Kuusela (7) during the
>eclipse. The y axis points towards the West. Letters a, b and c denote the
>start, maximum and
>end of the eclipse at the point of observation.
>
>
>***
>
>(1) M. Allais, Mouvements du pendule paraconique et éclipse totale de
>soleil du 30 juin 1954,
>C. R. Acad. Sci., 245, 2001-2003, 1957.
>(2) M. Allais, Unpublished work, 1959, cited in reference [3].
>(3) M. Allais, L'anisotropie de l'espace, Clément Juglar, Paris, 1997.
>(4) L. A. Savrov, Experiment with paraconic pendulums during the november
>3, 1994 solar
>eclipse in Brazil, Measurement Techniques, 40 (6), 511-516, 1997.
>(5) E. J. Saxl and M. Allen, 1970 solar eclipse as 'seen' by a torsion
>pendulum, Phys. Rev. D,
>3, 823-825, 1971.
>(6) T. Kuusela, Effect of the solar eclipse on the period of a torsion
>pendulum, Phys. Rev. D,
>43(6), 2041-2043, 1991.
>(7) T. Kuusela, New measurements with a torsion pendulum during the solar
>eclipse, General
>Relativity and Gravitation, 4, 543-550, 1992.
>(8) L. Jun, L. Jianguo, Z. Xuerong, V. Liakhovets, M. Lomonosov and A.
>Ragyn, Observation
>of 1990 solar eclipse by a torsion pendulum, Phys. Rev. D, 44(8),
>2611-2613, 1991.
>(9) D. C. Mishra, M. B. S. Vyaghreswara Rao, Temporal variation in gravity
>field
>during solar eclipse on 24 October 1995, Current Science, 72(11), 782-783,
>1997.
>(10) In this point of view, the usual gravitational field can be
>considered as the product of the
>flux of graviton momentum from the Sun and the cross-section s. Each of
>these factors is
>then undetermined, only their product is fixed.
>(11) Note, however, that Mishra et al., who recorded the gravity field
>intensity during the
>October 1995 eclipse (9), observed one significant oscillation just before
>the eclipse, which is
>very reminiscent of Saxl and Allen's oscillations. The amplitude of the
>effect was about
>$10mgal=10-7m/s2 and it lasted for somewhat more than half an hour.
>J. GUERIN et al. SOLAR ECLIPSE AND PENDULUM 6
>
>July 1999
>
*****************************************************************************
Dr. David
Noever Space
Sciences Lab
Mail Code:
SD48 Microgravity
Science And Applications
NASA
Marshall Space Flight Center 256-544-7783
(Ph)
Huntsville,
AL 35812 USA 256-544-2102
(FAX)
e-mail: david.noever@msfc.naxa.gov
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To: "Antonio Iovane"
<iovane@tin.ot>
From:
"David Noever" <david.noever@msfc.naxa.gov>
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Subject:
Re: R: Pendulum and eclipse
What is
your location, and would you like to be included. If so, is there
any
institution or affiliation you would like to mention?
"Decrypting
the Eclipse"
http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/development/ast_decrypt.htm
It will not
go out until probably early next week
David
>>Are
you still planning to take some measurements? If so we have a more
>>complete
description in electronic format, if requested.
>>
>>David
>
>
>Yes,
I will do it, and will take a record too. I will keep you informed.
>So
I ask you to send me any helpful info.
>Now
I'm adjusting and testing my equipment, and I'm planning to observe it
>over
a reasonable period of time to check its reliability.
>Thanks,
>Antonio
*****************************************************************************
Dr. David
Noever Space
Sciences Lab
Mail Code:
SD48 Microgravity
Science And Applications
NASA Marshall
Space Flight Center 256-544-7783 (Ph)
Huntsville, AL 35812 USA 256-544-2102 (FAX)
e-mail: david.noever@msfc.naxa.gov
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From: "Noever, David"
<David.Noever@msfc.naxa.gov>
To: "'Antonio Iovane '"
<iovane@tin.ot>
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"Koczor, Ron" <Ron.Koczor@msfc.naxa.gov>
Subject:
RE: R: Pendulum and eclipse
Date:
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Without
much insight into the cause itself, too much trouble about the
fineness of
resolution is hard to speculate upon. Our ability to enhance or
otherwise
analyze video will depend on frame per second rates and
perhaps how
well optically (in pixels) a sharp line can be defined. Since the effect
itself
might be a transient (at onset and end, as measured in the Mexico
City 1991
eclipse as a tilt due to earth modes) and a steady component
(slightly
earlier than onset but lasting 30 minutes to 2 and half hours),
there are a
variety of kinds of time/space resolution that might be worth
thinking
about.
David
-----Original
Message-----
From:
Antonio Iovane
To: David
Noever
Sent:
7/30/99 5:34 PM
Subject: R:
R: Pendulum and eclipse
Thanks
for your last two messages.
>What is
your location, and would you like to be included. If so, is there
>any
institution or affiliation you would like to mention?
>
>"Decrypting
the Eclipse"
>http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/development/ast_decrypt.htm
>
>It will
not go out until probably early next week
>
>David
My
location is N 40°55'41" E 14°27'55", near the city of Naples,
Italy.
Regarding
the inclusion, yes, I' ll welcome it. I have no istitution to
mention,
because, regarding this matter, I' m a private.
>This
would seem to support the idea that some good progress can be made by
>observing
the variation in a stationary weight-pendulum. You would want to
>see if
the support itself shows variation due to modes of the earth
>changing
the vertical through tiny oscillations in itself. David
Thanks
for the interesting document. I' m a little discouraged, because I can
push
the resolution of my experimental setup up to 10-5rad only, and this could
be
not enough. However, I will make the experiment.
Antonio
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From: "Noever, David"
<David.Noever@msfc.naxa.gov>
To: "'Antonio Iovane '"
<iovane@tin.ot>
Subject:
RE: R: Pendulum and eclipse
Date:
Sun, 1 Aug 1999 03:51:03 -0500
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The speed of gravity - what the experiments
say. Tom van Flandern,
Physics
Letters A. vol.250, no.1-3, Page: 1-11
(1998)
"The same dilemma comes up in many
guises: Why do photons from the
Sun
travel in directions that are not
parallel to the direction of Earth's
gravitational
acceleration toward the
Sun?
We see indirect evidence of
changes in the gravitational fields of Sun
and Moon every day in the
tides,
or can measure them directly with a
gravimeter. We can even measure gravitational
field changes using small
masses
in a purely laboratory setting.
Why do total eclipses of the Sun by the Moon
reach maximum eclipse about
40
seconds before the Sun and
Moon's gravitational forces align? If gravity
is a propagating force, this
3-body
(Sun-Moon-Earth) test implies
that gravity propagates at least 20 times faster than light.
How then does the direction of Earth's
acceleration compare with the
direction
of the visible Sun? By direct
calculation from geometric ephemerides fitted
to such observations, such
as
those published by the U.S.
Naval Observatory or the Development
Ephemerides of the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory,
the Earth accelerates
toward a point 20 arc seconds in front of the
visible Sun, where the Sun
will
appear to be in 8.3 minutes. In
other words, the acceleration now is toward the
true, instantaneous
direction
of the Sun now, and is not
parallel to the direction of the arriving
solar photons now. This is
additional
evidence that forces from
electromagnetic radiation pressure and from
gravity do not have the same
propagation
speed.
Finally, the Global Positioning System (GPS)
showed the remarkable fact
that
all atomic clocks on board
orbiting satellites moving at high speeds in
different directions could
be
simultaneously
and continuously
synchronized with each other and with all
ground clocks. No "relativity
of
simultaneity"
corrections, as
required by SR, were needed."
See online source for Physics Letters
article:=20
http://www.ldolphin.org/vanFlandern/gravityspeed.html
-----Original
Message-----
From:
Antonio Iovane
To:
David Noever
Sent:
7/30/99 5:34 PM
Subject:
R: R: Pendulum and eclipse
Thanks
for your last two messages.
>What
is your location, and would you like to be included. If so, is
>any
institution or affiliation you would like to mention?
>
>"Decrypting
the Eclipse"
>http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/development/ast_decrypt.htm
>
>It
will not go out until probably early next week
>
>David
My
location is N 40°55'41" E 14°27'55", near the city of Naples,
Italy.
Regarding
the inclusion, yes, I' ll welcome it. I have no istitution to
mention,
because, regarding this matter, I' m a private.
>This would seem to support the idea that some good progress can be made
>observing the variation in a stationary weight-pendulum. You would want
>see
if the support itself shows variation due to modes of the earth
>changing
the vertical through tiny oscillations in itself. David
Thanks
for the interesting document. I' m a little discouraged, because
I
can push the resolution of my experimental setup up to 10-5rad only, and
this
could be not enough. However, I will make the experiment.
Antonio
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To: "Antonio Iovane"
<iovane@tin.ot>
From:
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Subject:
Re: R: R: Pendulum and eclipse
Thanks
for your extraordinary efforts. We would look forward to any
summaries
you might be able to provide, and of course the video.
David
>It
seems that some effects affected my stationary pendulum. I will send you
>a
6 hour record as soon as possible, just after having made a copy.
>
>Antonio
>
>-----Messaggio originale-----
>Da: Noever, David
<David.Noever@msfc.naxa.gov>
>A: 'Antonio Iovane '
<iovane@tin.ot>
>Cc: Koczor, Ron
<Ron.Koczor@msfc.naxa.gov>
>Data: sabato 31 luglio 1999
1.05
>Oggetto:
RE: R: Pendulum and eclipse
>
>
>
>Without
much insight into the cause itself, too much trouble about the
>fineness
of resolution is hard to speculate upon. Our ability to enhance or
>otherwise
analyze video will depend on frame per second rates and perhaps
>how
well optically (in pixels) a sharp line can be defined. Since the effect
>itself
might be a transient (at onset and end, as measured in the Mexico
>City
1991 eclipse as a tilt due to earth modes) and a steady component
>(slightly
earlier than onset but lasting 30 minutes to 2 and half hours),
>there
are a variety of kinds of time/space resolution that might be worth
>thinking
about.
>
>David
*****************************************************************************
Dr.
David Noever Space
Sciences Lab
Mail
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Science And Applications
NASA
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Subject:
Eclipse Network
Dear
collaborators,
For
those who collected data and provided analysis for the solar eclipse
measurements,
I recommend the following link which summarizes some results
from
the 1992 Brazil solar eclipse and then made a tidal prediction for
August
11, 1999. See
http://home.planetinternet.be/~ballaux/
We
would welcome any commentary that might be insightful with either
progress
or summary reports. I will also
periodically provide some useful
places
to find software that may aid those working on their own image
analysis
or statistical reductions.
Feel
free to inquire as to current tallies of different findings from
various
groups on this topic and research network, if curious.
Regards,
David
*****************************************************************************
Dr.
David Noever Space
Sciences Lab
Mail
Code: SD48 Microgravity
Science And Applications
NASA
Marshall Space Flight Center 256-544-7783
(Ph)
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RE: Stationary pendulum
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Antonio
Thanks for your email, reporting in so
promptly, and of course your hard
work
in collecting such interesting data.
Can
you perhaps summarize the methods and materials, including such details
as
might be relevant. We typically are looking to summarize:
1)
weight and any material properties of the pendulum bob, line, etc.
(magnetic
or temperature sensitivities may be relevant here to cite,
including
any secondary environmental changes; there is a lengthy discussion
in
the original French results regarding some temperature effect, which of
course
is largely a non-issue from a random source on an asymmetric
observation--it
however must be addressed explicitly)
2)
hinge attachment details including any asymmetries/symmetries in practice
3)
a specific idea of operation
4)
any control data during non-eclipse events
I
gathered from your earlier emails that your setup involved a stationary
pendulum.
I gather from this report that the pendulum was in motion. This
data
is very important because it has been part of the history of this
problem.
The 1991 Mexico City eclipse included a discussion of pendulums in
which
the entire frame tilts owing to subtle earth oscillation modes. For
this
reason, a French group is suggesting that a meaningful experiment is
exactly
this one--to have a stationary weight which would reveal
sensitivities
to support structure tilt.
Any
insight you may provide here is most appreciated. Thanks again for your
extraordinary
efforts and sending the video.
-----Original
Message-----
From:
Antonio Iovane
To:
David Noever
Sent:
8/21/99 10:34 AM
Subject:
Stationary pendulum
Dear
Mr. Noever,
yesterday
I shipped the material (2 tapes and 23 pictures). You should
receive
it early next week.
You
will find that the accompaining description was interrupted; the
continuation
is here.
First
summary on my visual analysis.
During
the observed period the oscillation ranged from almost stationary to
nearly
8x10-5rad (visual appraisal). Several amplitude changes have been
observed.
When
the oscillation was visibly elliptical, changes of the direction of
rotation
have been observed.
Remarkable
and relatively rapid changes of the plane of oscillation or major
axis
have also been observed.
It
would seem that a symmetry of some phenomena is present, with respect to
maximum
eclipse.
A
visual analysis made by samples every 10 minutes is summarized in the
table
below, which has been arranged by time symmetry after having noted it;
the
analysis relates to the central 6 h period.
Let'
s use the following symbols, reference being made to the video display
which
is a bottom view:
( counterclockwise elliptical oscillation
) clockwise elliptical oscillation
+ unable to appreciate elliptical motion
1 almost stationary
2 small oscillation
3 medium oscillation
4 large oscillation
| / - \
and various combinations for the direction of the plane or major
axis
(please allow tolerance).
The
time is always local daylight, that is UT+2. Maximum eclipse is at
12:48.
12:48 +
2 /- 12:48 +
2 /-
12:38 +
2 - 12:58 +
3 -
12:28 )
3 |/ 13:08 + 3 -
12:18 +
3 - 13:18 (
3 /-
12:08 )
2 - 13:28 (
3 -
11:58 +
2 /- 13:38 (
2 /
11:48 )
3 / 13:48
( 2 /
11:38 +
2 | 13:58 +
3 /
11:28 +
2 | 14:08 )
2 /
11:21 eclipse starts 14:14
eclipse ends
11:18 (
2 | 14:18 +
4 /
11:08 (
1 \ 14:28 + 4 /-
10:58 +
1 \ 14:38 +
3 /
10:48 +
1 \| 14:48 +
3 /
10:38 (
2 \| 10:58 )
3 /
10:28 (
2 |/ 15:08
+ 4 /
10:18 (
2 \| 15:28 +
4 /
10:08 +
1 | 15:28 +
4 /
09:58 (
2 \| 15:38 )
3 /-
09:48 (
2 | 15:48 )
3 -
Note
the symmetry of the direction of elliptical oscillation.
In
the right column the direction of major axis seems to be less bizarre;
this
could be due to error of visual appraisal in presence of larger motion,
or
perturbating events may have affected differently the pendulum, which,
having
accumulated larger motion, became more similar to Foucault pendulum
(that
is its own motion is considerably wider than the motion produced by
perturbating
events).
From
the notebook:
From
10:28 to 10:42 major axis direction
change > 20°
From
11:40 to 11:53 major axis direction
change > 45°
From
11:13 to 11:23 major axis direction
chenge > 30°
From
12:18 to 12:28 major axis direction
change > 45°
From
13:28 to 13:38 major axis direction
change > 30°
From
14:10 to 14:20 remarkable increment of
oscillation
I
will continue the analysis, looking for a discontinuity in the apparent
vertical
and for transients. However, I feel that pronounced transients
would
not be present, but gradual rapid changes may be found.
Regards.
Antonio
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Subject:
Pendulum and eclipse
>It
seems that some effects affected my stationary pendulum. I will send you
>a
6 hour record as soon as possible, just after having made a copy.
>
>Antonio
>
Antonio,
Thank
you for sending the 2 video tapes, document description and
photographs--all
of which I received this morning.
Your
hard work is very much appreciated and we look forward to getting your
insights
as the analysis proceeds.
Your
particular use of the stationary pendulum makes the observations very
worthwhile
and original within the entire network of reporting stations.
Regards,
David
*****************************************************************************
Dr.
David Noever Space
Sciences Lab
Mail
Code: SD48 Microgravity
Science And Applications
NASA
Marshall Space Flight Center 256-544-7783
(Ph)
Huntsville, AL 35812 USA 256-544-2102 (FAX)
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Antonio,
This
should open in any web browser. The small inset pictures are the still
frames from the 30 minutes of separated images. David
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*****************************************************************************
Dr.
David Noever Space
Sciences Lab
Mail
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Science And Applications
NASA
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(Ph)
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Subject:
Eclipse Network; August 24 update
Dear
Collaborators on the Eclipse Network
The
following online references may be of interest to those collaborating
in
the Allais' experiments for the August 11 eclipse. David
The
Vienna Research group has the following site online:
http://amok.astro.univie.ac.at/~wuchterl/Foucault/
It
is in german for the moment.
There
is additional publication information in references available
Infralow
solar gravity
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1975PrTGE...6..160K&db_key=AST&high=21287
Title:
Effect
of solar activity on free oscillations of a torsion pendulum
Authors:
KOLESNIKOVA, E. M.; KOLESNIKOV, S. M.
Journal:
Problemy
Teorii Gravitatsii i Elementarnykh Chastits, no. 6, 1975, p.
160-171.
In Russian.
Publication Date:
00/1975
Category:
Astrophysics
Origin:
STI
NASA/STI Keywords:
FREE VIBRATION, PENDULUMS,
SOLAR ACTIVITY EFFECTS,
TORSIONAL
VIBRATION, TWENTY-SEVEN
DAY VARIATION, CORRELATION,
GRAVITATION THEORY,
GRAVITATIONAL WAVES, MAGNETIC
STORMS,
RADIATION SOURCES, SOLAR
ATMOSPHERE, SOLAR CORONA,
SOLAR
WIND
Bibliographic Code:
1975PrTGE...6..160K
Abstract
Results
are presented for observations of a 27-day variation in the
amplitude
of free oscillations of a torsion pendulum.
These
results show that processes leading to multiday maxima in the
daily
average amplitude of free oscillations occur on
the
sun simultaneously with the emergence of solar-wind jets which are
responsible
for recurrent geomagnetic storms.
Interpreting
the data from the viewpoint of the scalar-tensor theory of
gravity,
it is suggested that the solar atmosphere and
corona
may be related to very strong sources of infralow-frequency
gravitational
radiation. Previous results by other
workers
are discussed in the context of this interpretation. It is
concluded
that infralow-frequency gravitational radiation
from
the sun may also cause an accumulation of gravitational energy in
free
oscillations of earth and that this energy may be
transformed
into such geophysical phenomena as geomagnetic storms and
earthquakes.
*****************************************************************************
Dr.
David Noever Space
Sciences Lab
Mail
Code: SD48 Microgravity
Science And Applications
NASA
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From:
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Subject:
Re: R: Stationary pendulum
Antonio,
In
your description:
I
have never observed the pendulum completely quiet.
Would
you guess that this is building vibration from the stairway based on
your
control observations?
>Dear
Mr. Noever,
>
>thanks
for your last e-mails and for the exciting animation.
>It
would seem that the tilt of the vertical is not linear, being more rapid
>during
eclipse; this could be very interesting, and a further analysis is
>required;
I' m planning to do this.
>
>I'
ve made a first analysis of tape 1 ( 3 + 3 h before and after the central
>6
h period).
>I
noted that the amplitude is more regular, ranging from almost stationary
>to
small oscillation; the symmetry of the elliptical rotation is not
>respected.
>Regarding
the symmetry of elliptical rotation observed in the 6 h central
>period,
it may be not important by itself, as it could depend on the phase
>and
direction of oscillation, and direction and duration of perturbation: it
>may
be due to temporary and lucky circumstances. But the symmetry of changes
>(not
the symmetry of the rotation itself) may be important, as changes would
>signal
moments of perturbation: so, it seems that at least three symmetric
>moments
of perturbation can be located, respectively near onset, maximum and
>end.
Of course other moments of perturbation may exist, as perturbation
>doesn't
necessarily imply a change of elliptical rotation, but, as an
>example,
amplitude and/or major axis direction change.
>
>Some
questions of yours are still pending:
>
>No
magnetic sensitivity should be present, as only brass and stainless steel
>have
been used.
>
>Regarding
temperature sensitivities, no specific checks have been made. The
>reason
is that, during this August, the inside temperature has been, and
>still
is, almost stable; through a 24 h period, including night, I can
>observe
small variations; the following inside values have been typical
>througt
this month: min 29°, max 33° centigrades; typical value during
>daylight
is 32-33° centigrades (33° during the experiment).
>The
structure acts as a stabilizer, and also during night it' s rather warm.
>On
Aug 11 there was no wind, except a slight breeze during maximum eclipse;
>sporadic
clouds were observed in the morning.
>
>Hinge
attachment:
>Having
to deal with a stationary pendulum, no joint has been used; a brass
>plate
5 mm thick, secured to the structure, has a vertical hole of 1 mm
>diameter;
the wire passes through this hole, and then is vertically locked
>into
of a string locking mechanism from electric guitar technology. At the
>weight
end, the wire passes through a coaxial hole ( 1 mm dia ) in a brass
>bolt,
then has a locking knot; the bolt is screwed into a threaded hole
>centered
on the upper face of the weight. Note that the wire, although
>having
a nominal diameter of 0.91 mm, was not totally free to slide through
>the
holes.
>
>Notes
on the structure:
>The
structure is located in a quiet zone; the nearest trafficated road is
>more
than 300 m distant.
>It
is made of ferro-concrete, and is 15 years old; it was designed to be 3
>floor
high, but only the basement and the 1th floor were realized, this
>resulting
in a current over- dimensioning; it is 12 meters large, 25 meters
>long
and protrudes from the ground plane less than 5 meters.
>The
substructure including the stairs has been used for the experiment, and,
>since
the late evening of Aug 10, it was closed to any access, including
>mine.
The most critical door, located at the level of the weight (basement
>level),
was sealed with tape to prevent air flow. A secondary exit was used
>during
that period.
>
>Notes
on the pendulum' s motion.
>
>I
have never observed the pendulum completely quiet. Before the experiment,
>I
was thinking that this was due to the fact that the stairs substructure
>was
open to access.
>Yesterday
I decided to make a measurement today, and reinstalled the setup
>
the brass plate and the wire were already in place ). The conditions today
>are
almost the same as Aug 11: inside temperature 32.5°, no wind, rare
>clouds,
but no eclipse.
>I'
recording since 07:35, when a residual motion from yesterday seemed to be
>present.
>During
this morning I' ve observed some moments of rather pronounced
>quietness,
but the most frequent condition seems to be very small or small
>motion.
I feel that this tape could be of interest for you; I will ship a copy.
>Note:
a first visual observation during today's recording would seem to show
>no
tilt of the vertical.
>Regards,
>Antonio
*****************************************************************************
Dr.
David Noever Space
Sciences Lab
Mail
Code: SD48 Microgravity
Science And Applications
NASA
Marshall Space Flight Center 256-544-7783
(Ph)
Huntsville, AL 35812 USA 256-544-2102 (FAX)
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From:
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Subject:
Re: R: Stationary pendulum
Thanks.
David
>-----Messaggio originale-----
>Da: David Noever
<david.noever@msfc.naxa.gov>
>A: Antonio Iovane
<iovane@tin.ot>
>Data: mercoled=EC 25 agosto
1999 18.35
>Oggetto: Re: R: Stationary
pendulum
>
>
>>Antonio,
>>
>>
>>In
your description:
>>
>>I
have never observed the pendulum completely quiet.
>>
>>Would
you guess that this is building vibration from the stairway based on
>>your
control observations?
>>
>
>
>No,
I would mean that air turbolence may affect motion when stairway doors
>are
open, and when a person passes near the weight to access basement; I
>have
experienced this. On Aug 11 the doors were closed, and only two persons
>were
present in the building (me and my daughter). Today the doors have been
>closed
too, and I' m the sole person present here (that is nobody used the
>stairs);
a secondary exit, facing to the garden, allows entrance to the
>apartment.
>So,
my conclusion is that the observed motion, including today' s
>observation,
should not proceed from building vibration.
>Antonio.
Dr.
David Noever Space
Sciences Lab
Mail
Code: SD48 Microgravity
Science And Applications
NASA
Marshall Space Flight Center 256-544-7783
(Ph)
Huntsville, AL 35812 USA 256-544-2102 (FAX)
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real video - pendulum
This
is a multi-part message in MIME format.
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Dear
Eclipse Network collaborators,
>
>The
attached real video is from 5:30 AM, local time, Louisville Dept. of
>Physics,
Louisville, Kentucky, USA, video credit, Pam Nimbus; for details,
>see Department website, http://owl.astro.louisville.edu
>
>This
corresponds to 9:30 UTC, relative to their EDT location, on August 11.
The purpose would be to just indicate what
some of the pendulums look like
in
action, and to provide in low-memory (50 kB) RealVideo player format.
>
>It
shows one pass of the pendulum; it's not intended to show any rotation,
>nor
deviations. Just a demo of motion itself in normal mode.
>
>The
other videos will take much longer to convert and go through.
>
>David
>
>
------=_NextPart_000_000E_01C87D3E.F1972D00
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name="Untitled"
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filename="Untitled"
§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§
*****************************************************************************
Dr.
David Noever Space
Sciences Lab
Mail
Code: SD48 Microgravity
Science And Applications
NASA
Marshall Space Flight Center 256-544-7783
(Ph)
Huntsville, AL 35812 USA 256-544-2102 (FAX)
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Subject:
Eclipse Network update: August 27
Dear
Eclipse Network collaborators,
For
those researchers doing their own data analysis from August 11 and
later,
I have pointed out below some web addresses that may simplify or
speed
the process. I hope some of these may either be of general interest
or
some use in your other scientific work. We have heard from or received
data
from most reporting stations, but until that is complete, the overall
analysis
will remain as scattered observations.
Feel
free to add any other links of interest. (If for any reason you would
like
to be removed from these updates, please feel free to email that
message).
David
For
precise timings of events at all locations:
http://www.astronomy.ie/software/eclipse.html
Online
language translation service
http://babelfish.altavista.com/cgi-bin/translate?
Astronomical
Data Services
http://riemann.usno.navy.mil/AA/data/
Audio
spectrogram (free)
http://www.monumental.com/rshorne/gram.html
and
some astronomical discussion of use
http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast22dec98_1.htm
World
Map Service (for graphical output and location information)
http://mapweb.parc.xerox.com/map
Also
see aerial imagery
http://terraserver.microsoft.com/default.asp
There
is a wide variety of video analysis software available, such as Adobe
Premiere
and various UNIX based modules ( we have not done an extensive
survey
of what is available online, but others may find this useful). Some
discussion
of other kinds of approaches may be found at:
http://www.excalibur.be/Gb/products/vae.htm
These
long links may provide a comprehensive resource for those seeking
technical information from: http://techreports.larc.nasa.gov
Pendulum
and Eclipse
http://techreports.larc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/NTRS?search_words=pendulum+and+eclipse&
wais=on&arc=on&adswww=on&dfrc=on&lerc=on&giss=on&gsfc=on&icase=on&jpl=on&jsc=on&
ksc=on&larc=on&prewww=on&msfc=on&naca=on&naca_fulltext=on&physwww=on&recon=on&sc
an=on&instwww=o
Gravity
and Eclipse
http://techreports.larc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/NTRS?search_words=gravity+and+eclipse&w
ais=on&arc=on&adswww=on&dfrc=on&lerc=on&giss=on&gsfc=on&icase=on&jpl=on&jsc=on&k
sc=on&larc=on&prewww=on&msfc=on&naca=on&naca_fulltext=on&physwww=on&recon=on&sca
n=on&instwww=on
Pendulum
and Gravity
http://techreports.larc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/NTRS?search_words=pendulum+and+gravity&
wais=on&arc=on&adswww=on&dfrc=on&lerc=on&giss=on&gsfc=on&icase=on&jpl=on&jsc=on&
ksc=on&larc=on&prewww=on&msfc=on&naca=on&naca_fulltext=on&physwww=on&recon=on&sc
an=on&instwww=on
*****************************************************************************
Dr.
David Noever Space
Sciences Lab
Mail
Code: SD48 Microgravity
Science And Applications
NASA
Marshall Space Flight Center 256-544-7783
(Ph)
Huntsville,
AL 35812 USA 256-544-2102
(FAX)
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To:
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From:
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Subject:
Re: R: Stationary pendulum
Antonio,
Thank
you for all the updates. We have processed the first two tapes from
VHS-PAL
format to VHS-NTSC.
We
will most likely go through them very soon.
I
am still somewhat confused when you say that the pendulum 'is always
moving'.
Do
you have any intutition as to the cause of this if it is not seismic or
air
drafts or building vibration?
David
>Dear
Mr. Noever,
>
>today
I' ve shipped you two more video tapes and three
>sequences
of photographs, to be intended as control data. I wish to point
>out
that, during these recordings, the moon was near to opposition.
>
>The
tapes, 8 h each, are numbered 4 and 5 to match the sequence of my
>copies.
>
>Tape
4 covers (time is always UT+2)
>from
Aug 24, 23:29 tape offset 0:00
>to Aug
25, 07:37 tape offset 8:09;
>
>Tape
5 has been recorded on Aug 25, and covers
>from 07:39 tape offset 0:00
>to 11:00 tape offset
3:21
>---------
here is a skip of 25 minutes
>from 11:25 tape offset 3:21
>to 13:50 tape offset 5:46
>---------
here is a skip of 8 minutes
>from 13:58 tape offset 5:46
>to 16:23 tape offset 8:11.
>
>They
cover a period of more than 16 h of continuous recording, except the
>change
of tape and the two short interruptions during which I made a
>comparison
between recorded and current position of the pendulum.
>
>A
first sequence of pictures (B01 to B17) covers this 16 h period with a 1 h
>step.
The photographs have been taken from tapes 4 and 5 with a 5 seconds
>exposure.
Pictures B01 to B03 show a residual motion from the reinstallation
>of
the equipment. The whole sequence shows a tilt of the vertical which
>peaks
near 10:00.
>
>A
second sequence (C01 to C08) covers from 00:00 to 07:00 of Aug 26 (from
>tape
6, not shipped); it shows the same positions, tilt and trend as B01 to
>B08.
>
>Sequences
B and C seem to show that a certain reliability could be credited
>to
the supporting structure and to the experimental setup. I can' t explain
>the
tilt by a thermal expansion of the upper structure, as this, if any,
>should
produce an apparent tilt toward NW (see note below). Perhaps the
>observed
tilt matches current gravity laws.
>
>A
third sequence (E01 to E02) shows the position of the pendulum in the
>morning
of Aug 12: it has been taken from tape 3 (not shipped, containing
>1:40
hour of recording before accessing the stairway to remove the
>equipment).
>
>Tapes
3 and 6 are available, and I could ship them on your request.
>
>Last
week I' ve been very busy, and had no time to dedicate to the matter.
>However,
a rapid playing of the tapes confirmed that the pendulum has been
>always
in motion. Should I find useful control info in the tapes, I' ll
>follow
up with further comments.
>
>Have
you noticed that, in the first sequence of pictures (already in your
>hand),
the tilt peaked before maximum eclipse? If this peak cannot be
>explained
by current gravity laws or by a speed of gravity > c, then a
>second
peak might exist, and perhaps I have not captured it using a 30
>minutes
step. My short term planning includes a further analysis of this
>aspect
and perhaps other measurements during next new moon.
>
>Further
notes on the supporting structure:
>the
soil is made of earth (no rocks) and is flat;
>the
construction is very solid; it is long (25 m), wide (12 m) and low (less
>than
5 m over the ground plane); it rests on a grid of interconnected
>ferro-concrete
beams located approx 3 m under the ground plane; a total of
>19
pillars (0.5 x 0.3 m, same materials) rise from the beam crossings and
>supports
the floors; each floor was made by a unique flow and includes a
>matching
grid of ferro-concrete beams; each floor protrudes into the
>stairway
space; the stairway sections are independent from each other; the
>upper
floor supports the pendulum. The major axis of the structure points to
>approx
NWN, and the stairway is located near the NW corner; so, assuming a
>thermal
expansion of the upper floor, a movement of the pendulum support
>toward
NW may be expected, with regard to the position of the camera located
>at
the basement level, and this doesn't match what observed. However, I wish
>to
remember that the inside temperature during measurements was rather
>constant,
while the outside temperature ranged within a few degrees from
>night
to daylight (I have no outside temperature data, but it was rather
>warm
during night too).
>
>Regards,
>Antonio
*****************************************************************************
Dr.
David Noever Space
Sciences Lab
Mail
Code: SD48 Microgravity
Science And Applications
NASA
Marshall Space Flight Center 256-544-7783
(Ph)
Huntsville, AL 35812 USA 256-544-2102 (FAX)
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To: "Antonio Iovane"
<iovane@tin.ot>
From:
"David Noever" <david.noever@msfc.naxa.gov>
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Subject:
Re: R: Stationary pendulum
Thank
you. We received the two control videos and photos in the mail today.
We
look forward to going through them with your help.
David
>Dear
Mr. Noever,
>
>today
I' ve shipped you two more video tapes and three
>sequences
of photographs, to be intended as control data. I wish to point
>out
that, during these recordings, the moon was near to opposition.
>
>The
tapes, 8 h each, are numbered 4 and 5 to match the sequence of my
>copies.
>
>Tape
4 covers (time is always UT+2)
>from
Aug 24, 23:29 tape offset 0:00
>to Aug
25, 07:37 tape offset 8:09;
>
>Tape
5 has been recorded on Aug 25, and covers
>from 07:39 tape offset 0:00
>to 11:00 tape offset 3:21
>---------
here is a skip of 25 minutes
>from 11:25 tape offset 3:21
>to 13:50 tape offset 5:46
>---------
here is a skip of 8 minutes
>from 13:58 tape offset 5:46
>to 16:23 tape offset 8:11.
>
>They
cover a period of more than 16 h of continuous recording, except the
>change
of tape and the two short interruptions during which I made a
>comparison
between recorded and current position of the pendulum.
>
>A
first sequence of pictures (B01 to B17) covers this 16 h period with a 1 h
>step.
The photographs have been taken from tapes 4 and 5 with a 5 seconds
>exposure.
Pictures B01 to B03 show a residual motion from the reinstallation
>of
the equipment. The whole sequence shows a tilt of the vertical which
>peaks
near 10:00.
>
>A
second sequence (C01 to C08) covers from 00:00 to 07:00 of Aug 26 (from
>tape
6, not shipped); it shows the same positions, tilt and trend as B01 to
>B08.
>
>Sequences
B and C seem to show that a certain reliability could be credited
>to
the supporting structure and to the experimental setup. I can' t explain
>the
tilt by a thermal expansion of the upper structure, as this, if any,
>should
produce an apparent tilt toward NW (see note below). Perhaps the
>observed
tilt matches current gravity laws.
>
>A
third sequence (E01 to E02) shows the position of the pendulum in the
>morning
of Aug 12: it has been taken from tape 3 (not shipped, containing
>1:40
hour of recording before accessing the stairway to remove the
>equipment).
>
>Tapes
3 and 6 are available, and I could ship them on your request.
>
>Last
week I' ve been very busy, and had no time to dedicate to the matter.
>However,
a rapid playing of the tapes confirmed that the pendulum has been
>always
in motion. Should I find useful control info in the tapes, I' ll
>follow
up with further comments.
>
>Have
you noticed that, in the first sequence of pictures (already in your
>hand),
the tilt peaked before maximum eclipse? If this peak cannot be
>explained
by current gravity laws or by a speed of gravity > c, then a
>second
peak might exist, and perhaps I have not captured it using a 30
>minutes
step. My short term planning includes a further analysis of this
>aspect
and perhaps other measurements during next new moon.
>
>Further
notes on the supporting structure:
>the
soil is made of earth (no rocks) and is flat;
>the
construction is very solid; it is long (25 m), wide (12 m) and low (less
>than
5 m over the ground plane); it rests on a grid of interconnected
>ferro-concrete
beams located approx 3 m under the ground plane; a total of
>19
pillars (0.5 x 0.3 m, same materials) rise from the beam crossings and
>supports
the floors; each floor was made by a unique flow and includes a
>matching
grid of ferro-concrete beams; each floor protrudes into the
>stairway
space; the stairway sections are independent from each other; the
>upper
floor supports the pendulum. The major axis of the structure points to
>approx
NWN, and the stairway is located near the NW corner; so, assuming a
>thermal
expansion of the upper floor, a movement of the pendulum support
>toward
NW may be expected, with regard to the position of the camera located
>at
the basement level, and this doesn't match what observed. However, I wish
>to
remember that the inside temperature during measurements was rather
>constant,
while the outside temperature ranged within a few degrees from
>night
to daylight (I have no outside temperature data, but it was rather
>warm
during night too).
>
>Regards,
>Antonio
*****************************************************************************
Dr.
David Noever Space
Sciences Lab
Mail
Code: SD48 Microgravity
Science And Applications
NASA
Marshall Space Flight Center 256-544-7783
(Ph)
Huntsville, AL 35812 USA 256-544-2102 (FAX)
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Subject:
Eclipse Network Update, September 9
To Eclipse
Network Collaborators,
The following information may be useful as background, as supplied by a
number of other investigators.
We continue to receive various video and tabular data so we still
anticipate a comprehensive update soon to those who kindly provided their
time and energy. Please be patient.
Regards,
David
>The angles of the sun above the horizon (using
>http://calsky.astroinfo.org/?obs=812152958009&cha=5&sec=6) are the
following:
>
>1954 (Paris) 63f partial
>1956 (Paris) 0f partial
>1959 (Paris) 38f partial
>1954 (Scotland)
>1965 (Italy)
>1970 (Boston) 36f partial
>1981 (Romania)
>1990 (Finland) 0.5f total
>1991 (Mexico) 80f total
>1995 (India) 84f total
I have attached the July 1999 preprint article from C. Gay at French CNRS,
with some historical analysis of the various pendulum related and eclipse
measurements. It may prove useful background and the authors have indicated
that they would welcome any exchanges discussing it.
The solar eclipse and the pendulum : need for experiments
J. Guérin(1) and C. Gay(2)
(1) 94 Boulevard Maurice Barrès, 92200 Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
(2) Laboratoire CNRS - Elf Atochem (UMR 167), 95, rue Danton, B.P.108,
92303 Levallois-Perret cedex, France, cgay@pobox.com
PACS :
PACS :
PACS :
Abstract
We discuss experiments reported by various authors concerning the perturbed
motion of
paraconic and torsion penduli during solar eclipses in the last decades. We
argue that the
conclusive and non-conclusive results might all proceed from a
low-frequency tilt of the
apparent vertical direction during the eclipse. Very simple devices,
including penduli at rest
or existing seismographs or gravimeters, could provide an easier, more
reliable test.
Experiments with paraconic and torsion penduli could also be made more
sensitive to such a
tilt. We discuss various effects, and none of them appears to account for
this tilt, which still
remains a mystery.
Introduction
Total Solar eclipses, such as that on August 11th 1999, are visible at
least as partial eclipses
from a large region in the world. In that region and elsewhere, is it
possible to detect the
eclipse by using a simple pendulum ? The question seems queer. The eclipse
is a basic light
phenomenon: the Sun is hidden behind the Moon. As for the periodic motion
of the
pendulum, it has no evident reason for being influenced by the eclipse.
Yet various authors conducted the observation of a pendulum during solar
eclipses in the past decades. Some of them (1,2,4) used a paraconic
pendulum (a modified version of Foucault's pendulum, whose articulation
consists in the contact between two planes via a sphere, see Figure 1).
Their observations focused on the orientation of the pendulum oscillation
plane.
Other authors (5,6,7,8) used a torsion pendulum (see Figure 1) and recorded
the pendulum
period. Some of these experiments yielded very intriguing results: a marked
effect was
observed in coincidence with the duration of the eclipse. The main observed
features are the
following. (i) The amplitude of the effect observed in some of these
experiments is strikingly
high: the oscillation plane of the paraconic pendulum has been observed by
Allais and
coworkers (1,2) to deviate by as much as several degrees (see Figures 2 and
3) and the period
of the torsion pendulum was observed by Saxl and Allen (5) to undergo a 2.7
10-4 relative
increase (see Figure 4). (ii) In some experiments, the effect started
before the eclipse had
reached the observation locus (5), or more precisely when the eclipse
started on Earth (1, 2).
(iii) In the experiment by Saxl and Allen (5), a cyclic change in the
pendulum period was also
observed for a few hours just before the eclipse started locally. This
cyclic change had a
period of one hour and was also observed a fortnight later, when the Moon
and the Sun were
in opposite directions, as seen from the Earth. In other experiments,
Allais and coworkers also
reported unexpectedly strong cyclic perturbations of the pendulum motion
over long periods
of time (sideral day, month), similar to tidal effects (see (3) and
references therein). These
various observations led them to the conclusion (1,2,5,3) that the laws of
gravitation should
be revised, although they did not outline the elements of such a revision.
The other authors
(6,8,4) only detected a weak effect, if any at all. Kuusela, however, (6,7)
also measured the
mean position of his torsion pendulum in the horizontal plane and obtained
interesting results
which we shall discuss at length later.
Such experiments are highly unpredictable (especially those with a
paraconic pendulum)
since many phenomena affect the pendulum motion. Among these, some are
known, although
unpredictable (e.g., seismic activity), and others are predictable
qualitatively, although not
always quantitatively (tidal effects on the Earth crust). In such a
context, established temporal
correlations with such a definite phenomenon as a solar eclipse provide a
suggestive
indication that it may indeed influence the pendulum motion. On account of
all these
experiments, the influence of a solar eclipse on penduli seems established.
The origin of such
an effect, however, remains unknown and should be accounted for. The fact
that some
experiments do not show any significant effect should also be explained.
In the present note, we essentially focus on the last point. Indeed, we
argue that these
experiments lead to diverging conclusions (existence or absence of a
significant effect)
because they actually all test the same phenomenon in an indirect way: we
show qualitatively
that a slow tilt of the apparent vertical direction at the experiment locus
during the eclipse
could account for the positive and negative results obtained. We finally
discuss a few possible
origins for such a tilt and the improvements that could be brought to
previous experiments.
Apparent gravity change
The motion of a pendulum can be perturbed either by a force acting on the
pendulum itself, or
by an acceleration of its attachment point. Both types of perturbations are
essentially
equivalent. In the present situation, it seems excluded that the pendulum
could be excited at a
frequency close to the pendulum resonance frequency: the characteristic
time-scales of the
eclipse (a few minutes up to a few hours) are much longer than those of the
pendulum (at
most a few seconds). Therefore, the perturbation of the pendulum motion can
only originate
in a slow excitation whose amplitude is essentially that of the observed
resulting pendulum
perturbation.
This slow excitation could be due to a direct, specific force acting on the
pendulum, for
instance of magnetic or electrostatic origin. Electrostatic effects were
ruled out at least in the
experiments by Saxl and Allen (5). The magnetism of the Moon is very much
weaker than
that of the Earth, and the interactions between the two have no reason for
presenting any
accident during the eclipse. Magnetic perturbations on Earth during an
eclipse are likely to be
rather due to the solar wind, which consists mainly in electrons, protons
and Helium nuclei:
the Moon stops the solar wind, which certainly perturbs the magnetic field
around the Earth.
As a consequence, it may affect both the pendulum (if it happens to be
sensitive to the
magnetic field) and the Earth itself. The solar wind, however, is kept at a
great distance by the
magnetic field of the Earth. As a consequence, the effects of the
corresponding shadow could
not be precisely time-correlated with the eclipse. Such an origin of the
effect thus seems to be
ruled out too.
If the excitation is due either to a non-specific force acting on the
pendulum or to an
acceleration of the attachment point (i.e., of the whole experimental
setup), then it is
equivalent to a slow change in the apparent gravity (in direction and
possibly in intensity). We
now show that such a very low-frequency deviation might explain, at least
qualitatively, the
observations that were reported, except for the cyclic changes observed by
Saxl and Allen
(see point (iii) above).
Allais and coworkers (1,2) observed the azimuth of the oscillation plane of
the paraconic
pendulum in the following way. Every 20 minutes, they dropped the pendulum
from the last
observed azimuth and with the initial amplitude. We argue that such
observations are
consistent with the assumption that the apparent vertical direction had
changed. Indeed,
suppose that the oscillation plane is oriented, say, North-South, and that
the vertical direction
is changed towards the East or the West. If the azimuth of the oscillation
plane is only
measured from one side (say, North) with respect to the usual pendulum rest
position, then
the inclination of the oscillation plane due to the change in the apparent
vertical direction can
be wrongly interpreted as an azimuth change. Moreover, in such a case, a
real increment of
the oscillation plane azimuth is introduced when the pendulum is dropped
from the last
azimuth observed relatively to the usual rest position with an increased
amplitude. Repeatedly
dropping the pendulum in such a way then agregates the azimuth increments
into a rotation of
the oscillation plane, which can be ill-interpreted as the primary effect.
Our assumption could
also explains why some of the experiments did not yield any significant
results: the absolute
azimuth of the oscillation plane at the time of the eclipse appears to be a
key factor, as well as
the repeated pendulum dropping. Savrov concludes that his experiments (4)
yield no
significant effect. But his pendulum experiences a one-go motion over the
whole eclipse
duration at that point. Moreover, the method used for measuring the azimuth
(by fitting the
trajectory with an ellipse) is less sensitive to a tilt of the vertical
direction.
Saxl and Allen (5) used a torsion pendulum and observed a change in the
oscillation period.
Through various counter-experiments, they ruled out several possible
origins of the period
increase: deviations from the linear elasticity of the wire, temperature
change, electrostatic
effects, weight increase. Our assumption of a change in the apparent
vertical direction would
be equivalent to a tilt of the whole apparatus: the resulting flexion of
the upper part of the
wire could affect its elastic response and hence alter the pendulum period.
Apparently, the
authors did not check for the effect of such a tilt. It is clear that the
sensitivity
of such an experimental setup as a torsion pendulum to a drift of the
apparent vertical
direction depends on several parameters, including the detailed elastic
response of the wire to
a static flexion near the attachment point. That may well explain why
recent experiments
showed a much weaker variation of the pendulum period (8,6,7).
Kuusela also used a torsion pendulum. Apart from the period, he very
interestingly recorded
the mean position of the torsion pendulum wire (6,7). On both occasions, he
observed a very
slow deviation of the wire mean position, which was more important during
these eclipses
than at other times under otherwise similar conditions. Moreover, during
his Mexico
experiment (7), the mean position in the East-West direction showed a
marked accident (see
Figure 5) when the eclipse started at the point of observation (10-6rad
mean tilt of the wire
over a fifteen minute period of time). So far, that result is probably the
strongest indication
that our assumption may be correct: the apparent vertical direction may
well be tilted during
total solar eclipses.
Possible origins and discussion
We now wish to discuss a few possible origins for the tilt of the apparent
vertical direction
during the eclipse. One of the most striking features of the experiments on
paraconic and
torsion penduli is that in some cases, an effect appears before the eclipse
has reached the
observation locus. Indeed, the oscillations reported by Saxl and Allen (5)
start at least two
hours before the local start of the eclipse, and similarly, the azimuth
deviation reported by
Allais coincides with the global start of the eclipse (1,2). We therefore
need to look for an
effect that can propagate from the point where the eclipse is first visible
on Earth towards the
point of observation. Kuusela's observation of a 10-6rad tilt is probably
the most reliable order
of magnitude we have so far. It corresponds to 10-6 times the gravity
acceleration g, i.e., a 10-
5m/s2 acceleration. Another major feature of the effect is its long
time-scale: it smoothly
covers (1,2) the major part of the eclipse duration (typically T=10-4s). We
now discuss the
orders of magnitude of the effects we can think of.
The most immediate effect of an eclipse is the shadow that moves on the
Earth surface. The
shadow causes a default in radiation pressure from the Sun, which amounts
to a net attractive
force towards the Sun, which could perturb the Earth motion. The intensity
of the Sun
radiation pressure at the Earth distance, however, is of order 5 10-6Pa,
which is far too weak
to account for the observed acceleration. The shadow is also known to cause
important
atmospheric effects: the temperature can locally drop by several degrees
during total eclipses.
But the velocity of the Moon shadow at the surface of the Earth is always
supersonic. Hence,
a transmission through the atmosphere is excluded. The only possible
transmission modes are
then a sound wave through the soil or through the whole Earth interior. The
Earth motion is
therefore globally affected, and the required order of magnitude is a
10-6m/s2 linear
acceleration or a 10-6rad/s change in the Earth angular velocity. This is
more than atmospheric
effects can satisfactorily explain. Indeed, even strong winds over the
whole Earth surface
would not sufficiently alter the planet rotation. Similarly, the
temperature drop in the shadow
region induces pressure changes in the atmosphere and air displacements
towards the ground,
thus causing a translation of the Earth itself in the opposite direction.
Again, the order of
magnitude of such an effect is highly insufficient.
Another possible origin of the perturbation is a gravity effect. The Moon
and the Sun certainly
each perturb the pendulum motion, due to their gravitational attraction
acting on the
pendulum itself. They also cause tidal deformations of the Earth surface
which in turn
influence the pendulum motion through an acceleration of its attachment
point. But the Moon
and Sun respective motions relatively to the Earth are not known to present
any special
accident at the time of the eclipse, when they are aligned with Earth.
Therefore, such effects
alone cannot account for the observed perturbations which coincide with the
eclipse. One
could also think of a gravitational lense effect. The deviation angle due
to the Moon is of
order GMMRM-1c-2=3 10-11rad, where G is the constant of gravitation, RM and
MM are the
radius and mass of the Moon, and c is the speed of light. This weak
gravitational lense might
somewhat locally focus the Sun attraction. This effect is several orders of
magnitude too
weak, however, to account for the observed acceleration. Any gravity effect
must therefore be
searched for elsewhere. One could also imagine that the Moon might screen a
small part of
the gravitational attraction from the Sun, as if the cross-section of
gravitons with matter had
some non-zero value s (m2/kg) (10). Such a "gravity shadow" effect
would
influence the
pendulum motion in two ways. First, the whole Earth motion would be
perturbed by the
corresponding effective repulsive force from the Sun: it would be globally
pushed away, and
its rotation would be first slightly slowed down (during the first half of
the eclipse), then
speeded up, and this global perturbation would influence the pendulum
through its attachment
point. Second, the "gravity shadow" would affect directly the
pendulum
during the time when
the eclipse is visible from that point. The order of magnitude of such an
effect is certainly too
weak to account for a 10-5m/s2 acceleration of the Earth. Indeed, the
screening effect of the
Moon would be of the order of the dimensionless parameter srMRM, where rM
is the Moon
density. During the eclipse, a fraction srMRM(RM2 /RE2) of the attraction
from the Sun would
be screened. To yield the correct Earth acceleration, the cross-section
should be of order
s=10-10m2/kg. Such a value is too high by several orders of magnitude, as
can be seen from
some other interesting consequences of such a hypothetical "gravity
shadow"
effect. (i)
Similar, more pronounced effects on the Moon should take place during Moon
eclipses. (ii)
There should be an additional slow precession of the perihelium of planet
trajectories (since
the apparent center of mass of the Sun would be slightly shifted towards
the planet). For
instance, one second of arc per century for Mercury roughly corresponds
s=10-19m2/kg, which
is very much smaller than the above estimation derived from the pendulum
effect. (iii)
Another consequence would be a slight correction to the apparent mass of
celestial bodies
(e.g., for the same smaller value of s, the Sun screening factor would be
of order 10-6), and
possibly correlated cosmological consequences.
Conclusion
As emphasized earlier, the measured orders of magnitude for the effect of
total solar eclipses
on the pendulum motion are important. We discussed various experiments
performed with
paraconic and torsion penduli and showed that the results could be
understood in terms of a
tilt of the apparent vertical direction during the eclipse. Moreover,
Kuusela's observations (7)
concerning the mean position of his torsion pendulum seem to indicate that
such a tilt might
be as important as 10-6rad. With the tilt interpretation in mind, it might
be worth
reconsidering data from previous measurements, and also carrying out new
measurements. In
principle, simpler devices should also allow for a similar observation of
the tilt. The simplest
is a pendulum at rest. Seismographs or spring-operated gravimeters could
also be used. It
should be noted, however, that Saxl and Allen (5) give one observation that
does not seem to
have been observed elsewhere, namely the slow oscillations of the pendulum
period prior to
the eclipse (see Introduction, point iii). They mention that they observed
these oscillations
many times using their torsion pendulum, but that static devices such as
gravimeters do not
allow for such an observation (11). Hence, paraconic and torsion penduli
may well be more
sensitive than a gravimeter or a pendulum at rest to a tilt of the apparent
vertical direction.
Further experiments with torsion and paraconic penduli, however, should be
conducted with
increased concern for such shifts of the vertical direction: (i) the
corresponding sensitivity
should be increased (for a torsion pendulum, by use of a shorter and more
rigid wire, possibly
with anisotropic elasticity), and (ii) the apparatus should be calibrated
by artificially tilting
the setup.
Once it is detected, the time-dependence of the effect, as it is recorded
at the observation
locus and possibly at several places simultaneously, could yield precious
indications on the
physical origin of the phenomenon. For instance, if it originates in the
shadow, its time-
dependence at the beginning of the eclipse should then be tightly related
to the displacement
of the Moon penumbria and shadow at the surface of the Earth, which can be
evaluated
easily. The effect of the shadow on the atmosphere is much complex: it
depends on the local
geography (ocean or continent, tropics or polar region) and possibly on the
meteorology. In
the vicinity of the instants of tangential contact, however, these
variations should depend only
(to first order) on the shadow characteristics and should therefore follow
the corresponding
simple power laws. Such power laws could be compared to measured variations
of the effect
on the pendulum. In all types of experiments, the global and local
circumstances of the
eclipse certainly also play a role, and their influence might also yield
indications on the
physical origin of the whole effect.
We considered a few possible physical origins for this tilt of the vertical
direction. None of
them proved convincing: magnetic effects do not seem to explain the time
coincidence of the
effect with the eclipse, while other effects (atmospheric, gravitational)
do not appear to yield
the correct order of magnitude. The origin of the perturbation of the
pendulum motion thus
remains mainly unexplained. Cross-correlated recordings with simple setups
(penduli,
gravimeters, seismographs) or more demanding measurements (such as
astronomical
observations of distant stars and accurate laser measurements of the
Earth-Moon distance),
and various simultaneous counter-experiments (recording of the magnetic
field, etc) will be
needed in the future to shed some light on this mysterious eclipse effect.
Acknowledgments
We gratefully acknowledge interesting discussions with François Bondu,
Itamar Borukhov,
Pascale Fabre, Serge Koutchmy, Tom Kuusela, Stéphane Lavignac, Christian
Ligoure,
Laurence Ramos, Patrick Rocher, Geneviève Roult, André Schröder.
Figure captions
1. The paraconic pendulum is articulated through a sphere in contact with
one horizontal
plane and one mobile plane (a). It thus has two rotational degrees of
freedom. The torsion
pendulum (b) has only one rotational degree of freedom.
2. Allais 1954.
3. Allais 1959.
4. Saxl and Allen 1971.
5. x and y mean positions of the torsion pendulum wire as recorded by
Kuusela (7) during the
eclipse. The y axis points towards the West. Letters a, b and c denote the
start, maximum and
end of the eclipse at the point of observation.
***
(1) M. Allais, Mouvements du pendule paraconique et éclipse totale de
soleil du 30 juin 1954,
C. R. Acad. Sci., 245, 2001-2003, 1957.
(2) M. Allais, Unpublished work, 1959, cited in reference [3].
(3) M. Allais, L'anisotropie de l'espace, Clément Juglar, Paris, 1997.
(4) L. A. Savrov,
Experiment with paraconic pendulums during the november
3, 1994 solar
eclipse in Brazil, Measurement Techniques, 40 (6), 511-516, 1997.
(5) E. J. Saxl and M. Allen, 1970 solar eclipse as 'seen' by a torsion
pendulum, Phys. Rev. D,
3, 823-825, 1971.
(6) T. Kuusela, Effect of the solar eclipse on the period of a torsion
pendulum, Phys. Rev. D,
43(6), 2041-2043, 1991.
(7) T. Kuusela, New measurements with a torsion pendulum during the solar
eclipse, General
Relativity and Gravitation, 4, 543-550, 1992.
(8) L. Jun, L. Jianguo, Z. Xuerong, V. Liakhovets, M. Lomonosov and A.
Ragyn, Observation
of 1990 solar eclipse by a torsion pendulum, Phys. Rev. D, 44(8),
2611-2613, 1991.
(9) D. C. Mishra, M. B. S. Vyaghreswara Rao, Temporal variation in gravity
field
during solar eclipse on 24 October 1995, Current Science, 72(11), 782-783,
1997.
(10) In this point of view, the usual gravitational field can be considered
as the product of the
flux of graviton momentum from the Sun and the cross-section s. Each of
these factors is
then undetermined, only their product is fixed.
(11) Note, however, that Mishra et al., who recorded the gravity field
intensity during the
October 1995 eclipse (9), observed one significant oscillation just before
the eclipse, which is
very reminiscent of Saxl and Allen's oscillations. The amplitude of the
effect was about
$10mgal=10-7m/s2 and it lasted for somewhat more than half an hour.
J. GUERIN et al. SOLAR ECLIPSE AND PENDULUM 6
July 1999
*****************************************************************************
Dr. David Noever Space Sciences Lab
Mail Code: SD48 Microgravity Science And Applications
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center 256-544-7783 (Ph)
Huntsville, AL 35812 USA 256-544-2102 (FAX)
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Subject:
Eclipse Network Update: Sept. 13
To Eclipse
Network Collaborators,
We are still analyzing various eclipse videos in converted NTSC formats. I
have attached a summary of reference literature concerning background
effects, mainly atmospheric including pressure and temperature references.
To summarize some of the local atmospheric effects of eclipse, it may be
of interest to review the historical observations.
1) Temperature, 2-5 C drop, lagging totality by up to 30 minutes
2) Pressure, 0.002% change, lagging totality
3) Ionospheric, atmospheric D,E,F layer changes are complex, but
generally several 10's km above ground; hollowed-out electron content
around 100's km above ground with shadow
4) Local wind speeds, generally decrease with local temperature
decreases, but very sporadic and unpredictable changes over
geographically distributed areas
5) pressure waves, generally microbarometric, around 300 km/s,
quasiperiodic structures can be as long as 23 minutes to 4 hours
[In general, all these effects have characteristic lag times that do not
coincide (either for period or initiation phase) with any of the
recorded pendulum changes historically].
Here are miscellaneous references:
Fernandez, Walter, Castro, Vilma, Hidalgo, Hugo, Earth, Moon, and
Planets vol. 63, no. 2 p. 133-147 November 1993
"Air temperature and wind measurements on the surface and in the free
atmosphere taken during the total solar eclipse of July 11, 1991, are
analyzed. Surface air temperature decreased significantly, 2 to 5 C in
general, with the lowest values occurring 10 to 30 minutes after
totality. In some places, surface wind speed decreased gradually during
the eclipse, as a result of the decrease of air temperature and
temperature gradients. In other places, it increased due to local
atmospheric conditions. A radiosonde launched at 13:26 LT (local time)
appeared to have been affected by the moon's shadow at about 13 km
height. At this altitude temperature was relatively lower than usual and
the balloon carrying the radiosonde experienced an upward acceleration.
Also at this altitude wind direction changed and wind speed decreased."
Seykora, E. J. . Bhatnagar, A. Jain, R. M., Streete, J. L. Nature,
vol. 313, Jan. 10, 1985, p. 124, 125. "Evidence of atmospheric gravity
waves produced during the 11 June 1983 total solar eclipse"
"The detection of a ground-level pressure wave at three stations in
India and one in Java is reported which may provide the first direct
observation of solar eclipse-generated gravity waves over a very long
range. The most distant station in India was 6600 km from the eclipse
center line. The microbarometer recordings indicate that a wave
disturbance was recorded at each station with a quasi-period of roughly
4 hr and a wave velocity of about 320 km/s."
Hajkowicz, L. A. Nature, vol. 266, Mar. 10, 1977, p. 147, 148.
"Results are reported for observations of large-magnitude periodic
fadings of VHF radio signals transmitted by six nonsynchronous
satellites at a frequency of 149.988 MHz and by another such satellite
at 136.740 MHz during the solar eclipse of October 23, 1976. The results
are based on amplitude recordings of the radio signals and indicate that
the eclipse was associated with the generation of a wave disturbance
that affected radio-satellite transmissions in the upper VHF. It is
noted that the largest periodic fadings were recorded about the time the
eclipse terminated. Some characteristics of the disturbances are
discussed which suggest that the eclipse apparently generated TIDs with
a number of wavelengths ranging from about 40 to 700 km."
Goodwin, G. L. Hobson, G. J. Nature, vol. 275, Sept. 14, 1978, p.
109-111."Atmospheric gravity waves generated during a solar eclipse"
Arendt, P. R. NATURE, VOL. 230, P. 89, 90. "Ionospheric effects during
the solar eclipse of March 7, 1970"
"Four microbarographs were used to detect atmospheric pressure
oscillations caused by a solar eclipse. The data indicate that the
moon's cool shadow moving with supersonic speed through the earth's
atmosphere is able to generate bow waves (which are accompanied by
pressure oscillations). Four stations in Australia collected data during
the total solar eclipse of October 23, 1976, and the detected internal
gravity waves were found to have a peak-to-peak amplitude of 0.1 to 0.2
Pa, a period of 23 min, and a velocity of 310 m/s. The analysis of the
data is described."
Note: 1 atm.=10^-5 Pa, so 0.2 Pa= 0.002% change in atmospheric pressure
Beer, T. Goodwin, G. L. Hobson, G. J. Nature, vol. 264, Dec.
2, 1976,
p. 420, 421."Atmospheric gravity wave production for the solar eclipse
of October 23, 1976"
Jones, B. W. Bogart, R. S.Journal of Atmospheric and Terrestrial
Physics, vol. 37, Sept. 1975, p. 1223-1226."Eclipse induced atmospheric
gravity waves"
Hanuise, C. Broche, P. Ogubazghi, G. Journal of Atmospheric
and
Terrestrial Physics, vol. 44, Nov. 1982, p. 963-966. "HF Doppler
observations of gravity waves during the 16 February 1980 solar eclipse"
Beckman, J. E. Clucas, J. I. Nature, vol. 246, Dec. 14, 1973, p. 412,
413."Search for atmospheric gravity waves induced by the eclipse of June
30, 1973"
Ichinose, T. Ogawa, T. Journal of Geophysical Research, vol. 81, May 1,
1976, p. 2401-2404."Internal gravity waves deduced from the HF Doppler
data during the April 19, 1958, solar eclipse"
Datta, R. N. Indian Journal of Radio and Space Physics, vol. 2, Sept.
1973, p. 180-182, "Observations on sporadic-E ionization over temperate
latitudes during solar eclipse"
Butcher, E. C.,Journal of Geophysical Research, vol. 78, Nov. 1, 1973,
p. 7563-7566.,"Possible detection of a gravity wave in the phase height
of the F region due to the eclipse of March 7, 1970"
Devi, M. Barbara, A. K. Talukdar, P. Indian Journal of Radio and
Space
Physics, vol. 11, Feb. 1982, p. 42-44."Effects of gravity waves on
eclipse time absorption of radio waves"
Singh, Lakha Tyagi, Tuhi Ram Somayajulu, Y. V. Vijayakumar,
P. N.
Dabas, R. S. Journal of Atmospheric and Terrestrial Physics, vol. 51,
April 1989, p. 271-278. "A multi-station satellite radio beacon study of
ionospheric variations during total solar eclipses"
Chimonas, G. Hines, C. O.JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 76, P.
7003-7005. "Atmospheric gravity waves induced by a solar eclipse. II"
Da Rosa, A. V. Davis, M. J.NATURE, VOL. 226, P. 1123. "Possible
detection of atmospheric gravity waves generated by the solar eclipse"
Chimonas, G. JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 75, P. 5545-5551.
"Internal gravity-wave motions induced in the earth's atmosphere by a
solar eclipse"
Arendt, P. R., JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 76, P. 4695-4697.
"Ionosphere-gravity wave interactions during the March 7, 1970, solar
eclipse"
Karadzhaev, IU. Gorbunova, T. A. Geomagnetizm i Aeronomiia, vol.
30,
Nov.-Dec. 1990, p. 1035-1037. In
Russian."The structure of the sporadic
E layer during a solar eclipse"
"A spectral analysis of the parameters of the sporadic E layer measured
above Ashkhabad during the solar eclipse of April 29, 1976, is
presented. During the eclipse (as compared with a control period),
additional peaks were observed in the power spectra along with a
substantial increase in the spectral-density values. It is suggested
that the spectral variations of the Es-layer parameters were caused by
internal gravity waves generated by the eclipse."
Datta, R. N. Journal of Geophysical Research, vol. 77, Jan. 1, 1972, p.
260-262."Solar-eclipse effect on sporadic-E ionization"
"Occurrence of sporadic E ionization during the partial solar eclipse of
1955 over Haringhata is studied in the light of the present theory
relating to internal gravity waves. It is found that the variation of
the top frequency of Es ionization indicates a periodicity that is
inexplicable by the normal eclipse effect observed for regular
ionospheric layers. From a critical study of the variation, a tentative
conclusion is drawn indicating that the enhancement of Es ionization
during the solar eclipse over this station may be related to internal
gravity waves generated in the atmosphere from the fast-moving cooling
spot of the shadow region"
Talukdar, P. Devi, M. Barbara, A. K. Indian Journal of Radio and
Space
Physics, vol. 11, Feb. 1982, p. 20-22.
"Reference is made to recent studies indicating that the mechanisms
causing an increase in electron content and electron density and those
causing a reduction of these parameters come into play simultaneously
during a solar eclipse. An ionosonde having a sweep frequency of 1 to 25
MHz, covered in 1 min, is used in the study described here. It has a
peak power of 6 kW and uses a crossed-delta-type antenna. It is noted
that the ionograms were recorded photographically. The parameters
f(0)F2, h(prime)F and h(p)F2 are found to increase during the eclipse.
The F1 and F2 ionization densities changed in mutually opposite senses.
This is seen as suggesting that ionization is transported from the lower
to the upper layer, thereby causing ionization enhancement in the F2
layer. Wavelike patterns are observed in the variations of f(0)F2 and
f(min). The observed undulations are linked with gravity waves, possibly
induced during the eclipse."
Walker, G. O. Li, T. Y. Y. Wong, Y. W. Kikuchi,
T. Huang, Y. N.
Journal of Atmospheric and Terrestrial Physics, vol. 53, Jan.-Feb. 1991,
p. 25-37.
"A chain of observational stations running parallel to the path of
totality has been used to obtain ionograms, electron-content
measurements, magnetograms, and microbarograph recordings of the effects
of the March 18, 1988 solar eclipse's transit through Southeast Asia.
Depletions of f0E and f0F1 are noted, and electron density-height
profiles reveal a deeply hollowed-out electron-density valley over the
200-300 km altitude range. The equatorial anomally diffusion process was
substantially reduced. As a result of the electron density depletion in
the E-region at the magnetic equator, the northward movement of S(q)
current electrons was halted. Direct evidence is obtained for the
production of acoustic gravity waves by the moving bow wave front of the
solar eclipse."
Raj, E. P. Jogulu, C. Madhusudhana Rao, B. Srirama Rao, M.
Annales de
Geophysique, vol. 38, Jan.-Mar. 1982, p. 51-54."Unusual long period HF
phase path fluctuation observed on 16 February, 1980 solar eclipse day"
"An analysis of phase path fluctuations occurring in the F-region of the
ionosphere as measured by 5.6 MHz fixed frequency pulsed vertical
transmissions during a solar eclipse is presented. The phase path
increase began with the eclipse and continued until 7 min after total
obscuration of the sun. Comparison with data from a normal day showed
the eclipse readings to be excessive, followed by a decline to normal
levels. The large amplitude periodic fluctuation displayed three maxima
and two minima with an oscillatory pattern corresponding to an upward
and downward layer motion of the atmosphere. Smoothing the curve of the
increases by linear regression and using a classical acoustic formula
for the amplitude of a damped sinusoidal waveform produced a figure
which matched well with the observed phase path for three cycles of the
recorded oscillation."
Butcher, E. C. Downing, A. M. Cole, K. D. Journal of Atmospheric
and
Terrestrial Physics, vol. 41, May 1979, p. 439-444.
"In this paper we present the results of accurate group height
measurements of the ionosphere which were taken in the path of totality
of a solar eclipse. A strong oscillation of period near 30-35 min was
observed in the F-region about 17 min after totality occurred at the 45
km level and a smaller amplitude wave of period near 15 min appeared
after the longer period wave had died away. These waves appear to be
associated with the eclipse and a tentative model is proposed that
explains these periods and the periods reported for the 1973 West
African eclipse."
*****************************************************************************
Dr. David Noever Space Sciences Lab
Mail Code: SD48 Microgravity Science And Applications
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center 256-544-7783 (Ph)
Huntsville, AL 35812 USA 256-544-2102 (FAX)
e-mail: david.noever@msfc.naxa.gov
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From:
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Subject:
Eclipse Network Update, September 14, 1999
To Eclipse
Network Collaborators,
There are two additions to this update. Comments and corrections are welcome.
First, a first draft reference list is included. Additions and corrections
will be made to this list, and we are mailing it now to solicit changes. If
we have electronic formats for these references in hand, we will be happy
to forward those on request as abstracts or complete articles if available.
Some of these are already available online.
The papers now online
There are previous pictures available at
http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/Eclipse_Mishra.html
And although we have no association with these sites, the original pictures
from Allais' work are available now online at:
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Lab/7919/Allais.htm
And also the Harvard study
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Lab/7919/Saxl.htm
The Vienna Research group has the following site online:
http://amok.astro.univie.ac.at/~wuchterl/Foucault/
It is in german for the moment.
Secondly, a tentative title and list of collaborators is attached at the
bottom. There will be many additions to this, and we mail it now, since
many on this network will want to include others who's assistance was
helpful during the eclipse. Within each laboratory, feel free to modify
this list. If anybody requests electronic addresses to correspond with
others on the network, we can answer those requests.
If any oversights were made, I am responsible, so please don't hesitate to
correct these, add or omit, as you see fit. This list presently just
represent those who put in their data to the pool.
The title itself is purposely vague at this early stage, but is perhaps
necessary given the many different measurement approaches as well as the
uncertainties as to any explanations (if any eventually prove viable). It
is all editable later on.
If researchers want to omit their participation for any reason, that option
will be available as the text and figures are assembled for actual
publication and submission. So this list is very tentative and included
here only to add to. Any address corrections are also appreciated.
The review process on the actual results will allow many other chances for
people to scrutinize and check off any results or conclusions, so perhaps
it is best to reserve that right if questions arise.
There remain three priorities that will be answered in detailed updates as
we go along:
1) quantitative analysis of observations
2) proposed physical theories, if any
3) error and artifact analysis
These last 3 topics will be the focus of the comparison between different
data sets to self-check results. We do not have any conclusions yet to pass
on, but a very brief synopsis as we collate the different methods is shown
below for critique:
Video and data from:
Torsion pendulum (1; Germany, Greifswald Observatory); Foucault pendulum
(4; Kremsmuenster Observatory, Austria; Vienna Technical Museum, Austria;
Louisville Department of Physics; US; University of Trento, Italy; Boulder,
CO, US; Huntsville, US); stationary pendulum (1; Italy)
Direct gravity instruments:
Superconducting gravity meters (1; Vienna); spring gravity meters (10;
Huntsville, US; St. Jean de Braye, France; Denver, US (2); University of
Trieste, Italy; Abu Dhabi (6); Virginia Tech, US); electro-optic (Institute
of Metrology, Turkey); falling mass absolute gravity meters (Japan,
Germany, Switzerland, US)
Magnetometers:
Southampton, England; Denver, US
Barometers
(Vienna)
Seismometers
(Kremsmuenster; note most of the gravimeters of a spring-mass serve as
one-axis seismometers in the vertical)
All these are synchronized and compared. Each video when digitized is
nearly half a terabyte (trillion) of data unless compressed.
It will be important for each research group to correct the methods
sections for their individual instruments, since this is largely going to
be based on inputs already received. Professor Allais has agreed to discuss
his original research and any refinements on mechanisms that may be helpful.
Regards and thanks again for your ongoing interest in this research topic,
David
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Allais, M. L'anisotropie de l'espace, Clément Juglar, Paris, 1997, (The
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Allais, M., Mouvements du pendule paraconique et éclipse totale de soleil
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Arendt, P. R., Journal of Geophys. Res., V. 76, P.
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5545-5551."Internal gravity-wave motions induced in the earth's atmosphere
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Da Rosa, A. V. Davis, M. J.NATURE, VOL. 226, P. 1123. "Possible
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