The Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature and the Arts, July-December, 1827Various
Science
The Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature and the Arts, July-December, 1827
Various
Arts -- Periodicals; Science -- Periodicals; Technology -- Periodicals
5. An alteration was made in the weight and shape of the knife-edge
suspension; reducing its weight to about 10 grains, and giving it the
shape of a rotella, instead of that of a triangular prism.
The simple pendulum and microscopes were attached to a strong
wall, in a room on the ground floor, contiguous to the temporary
observatory, and well sheltered from the sun and weather. The clock
with which the pendulum was compared, was supported by a pyramid of
masonry resting on the ground, and occupying the middle of the room.
The experimental length between the microscopes was referred to three
standard metres, [p157] in perfect agreement with each other: one
received from Paris by the Commission of Weights and Measures at
Milan; a second brought more recently from Paris by Conte Moscati;
and a third in the possession of the Royal Academy of Turin.
The experiments were commenced on the 3rd of September, and
terminated on the 27th, being interrupted by M. Carlini’s absence
at Chambery from the 7th to the 12th. The distance between the
microscopes, and the oscillations and length of the pendulum,
were measured alternately. Thirteen independent results were thus
obtained, of which the greatest discordance from the mean was not
more than 13/10000ths of a British inch. The mean result was 39.0992
British inches, the length of the pendulum vibrating seconds in a
vacuum, at the place of observation on Mont Cenis, 1943 metres, or
6374 feet above the sea, in the latitude of 45° 14′ 10″. To compare
with this determination, we may obtain a tolerably fair approximation
to the pendulum at the level of the sea in the latitude of 45° 14′
10″, such as its length might have been found, if the mountain could
have been removed and the pendulum placed on its site, by deduction
from the lengths actually measured with a similar apparatus, on the
arc between Formentera and Dunkirk, at stations not far removed from
the level of the sea, in the adjacent parallels to Mont Cenis, and in
the countries adjoining. Of these there are five, not including the
station at Clermont, in consequence of its great elevation: they are
as follows:—
° ′ ″
Dunkirk 51 02 10; its pendulum at the level of the sea = 39.13771
Paris 48 50 14; " " " " 39.12894
Bordeau 44 50 26; " " " " 39.11295
Figeac 44 36 45; " " " " 39.11212
Formentera 38 39 56; " " " " 39.09176
The mean length of the seconds pendulum at the level of the sea, in
the latitude of 45° 14′ 10″, deduced from these determinations, is
39.1154; and it is so equally, whether an ellipticity of 1/288th,
or of 1/304th, or any intermediate ellipticity, be assumed in the
reduction.
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