Its about time..

A seemingly simple scientific question has stumped scientists for over three centuries…until now.  An interesting phenomenon that happens with two or more pendulum clocks which you would not intuitively think was complicated to figure out:

Almost 350 years ago, Dutch inventor and scientist Christiaan Huygens observed that two pendulum clocks hanging from a wall would synchronise their swing over time.

There is a new study in the journal Scientific Reports has proposed a solution: the pendulums transfer energy to one another through sound pulses.

Apparently, if correct this work could apply to electronic oscillators which are used in the synchronizing of microchips, and studying the properties of many other devices beyond only clocks.  As expected, they proved their theory in this way:

A pair of Portuguese scientists hypothesised that these pulses might move from clock to clock, perturbing the swing of the pendulums and eventually causing them to synchronise.

Let’s find out more on this phenomenon and check out a video of a DIY pendulum clock on page 2

Next Page »