Grove City College
Students Grace Barnes and Mackenzie Gongaware and took on the job of getting Rockwell Hall’s Foucault pendulum working again. Thanks to their work, the scientific device that was part of Rockwell’s original design is swinging again.
BACK IN THE SWING By Nick Hildebrand Grove City College’s Foucault pendulum is swinging again thanks to a pair of students who were initially puzzled by the device. Roommates Mackenzie Gongaware, a junior Mechanical Engineering major, and Grace Barnes, a junior Computer Science major, noticed the pendulum last spring as they passed through Rockwell Hall of Science. Meant to be a dynamic and visible demonstration of the Earth’s rotation, instead it hung motionless, in the dark behind a glass door on the first floor. “We got weirdly intrigued by it,” Barnes said. “We didn’t know what its purpose was, but the sign behind it told us to check its position throughout the day, so we would visit it periodically and look for any changes.” And, despite the women convincing 36 | w w w. g c c.e d u t h e G ēD UNK
themselves more than once that the pendulum moved, it hadn’t. Not for a while. The Foucault pendulum is supposed to demonstrate the rotation of the Earth as a steel bob, suspended from a fixed point in the ceiling, swings back and forth, its arc methodically moving 360 degrees with each turn of the Earth. But that had not happened in years. While it was part of Rockwell’s original design, the pendulum has a spotty history. For most of the building’s 90 years, it hasn’t been in regular use. The sign was likely a left over from the 1990s, the last time it was repaired. Gongaware and Barnes thought “it was sad to see a noteworthy part of Rockwell’s history being forgotten,” and out of curiosity and a desire to see the pendulum actually
work as advertised, they reached out to the Physics faculty about repairing it. “When Grace and Mackenzie approached me last fall about their interest in getting it swinging again, I thought it was a terrific idea,” Dr. James Clem, assistant professor of Physics said. “Since I started here in 2013, I’ve had some interest in getting it going again, but never had the time to devote to it.” “Grace’s and Mackenzie’s work on the project is commendable given their dedication and diligence to get it working and working correctly,” Clem said. “The Foucault is an important part of the culture and tradition of Grove City College. I strongly feel that their work will make it a great historical centerpiece to an already historical building,” he added.
