3 ms·
Yes, the definition of ‘1 metre’ s.t. a pendulum of this length has a period of 2 seconds (with some other, not length-related definition of seconds) only works
by claudius 14y ago
Yes, the definition of ‘1 metre’ s.t. a pendulum of this length has a period of 2 seconds (with some other, not length-related definition of seconds) only works in uniform gravity. But this wasn’t really a problem at the time these definitions were first made, as few people wanted to build metre sticks on the moon and the variations of g on the surface of Earth are likely to small to be measured given the usual experimental errors in the 19th century.
Nervertheless, the correct constant should be τ[0] anyways.
[0] http://tauday.com/ http://tauday.com/
- Someone 14y agoYou are underestimating early 19th century science, and even 17th century science. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_metre http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_metre: "However, it was soon discovered that the length of a seconds pendulum varies from place to place: French astronomer Jean Richer had measured the 0.3% difference in length between Cayenne (in French Guiana) and Paris." Richer discovered that while in French Guyana, between 1671 and 1673 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_richer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_richer)