The Foucault Rod model displays the vibration of a circumnavigating rod. One end of the rod is firmly secured to a support. The free end of the rod has a weight attached, like the bob of a pendulum. The support of the rod is circumnavigating a central axis. The plane of swing of the Foucault rod is affected by the rotation in the same way as the Foucault pendulum is.
The simulation shows simultaneously the motion with respect to the inertial coordinate system, and the motion as seen from a co-rotating point of view. For the co-rotating view there is a close-up view and an overview.
You can examine and modify this simulation if you have EJS installed by right-clicking within the plot and selecting "Open EJS Model" from the pop-up menu item.
The Foucault Rod model was created using the Easy Java Simulations (EJS) modeling tool. It is distributed as a ready-to-run (compiled) Java archive. Double clicking the ejs_nl_teunissen_foucault_rod.jar file will run the program if Java is installed.
Additional information about this model can be found by visiting the author's web site: http://www.cleonis.nl/index.htm.
Please note that this resource requires
at least version 1.5 of Java (JRE).
Foucault Rod Source Code
The source code zip archive contains an XML representation of the Foucault Rod model. Unzip this archive in your EJS workspace to compile and run this model using EJS. download 35kb .zip
Last Modified: November 3, 2009
C. Teunissen, Computer Program FOUCAULT ROD MODEL, Version 1.0 (2009), WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9610&DocID=1395).
C. Teunissen, Computer Program FOUCAULT ROD MODEL, Version 1.0 (2009), <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9610&DocID=1395>.
Teunissen, C. (2009). Foucault Rod Model (Version 1.0) [Computer software]. Retrieved June 16, 2025, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9610&DocID=1395
Teunissen, Cleon. "Foucault Rod Model." Version 1.0. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9610&DocID=1395 (accessed 16 June 2025).
%0 Computer Program %A Teunissen, Cleon %D January 19, 2009 %T Foucault Rod Model %7 1.0 %8 January 19, 2009 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9610&DocID=1395
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