The rhythmic ticking of your clock is based on a scientific discovery made in the 17th century by a brilliant scientist named Christiaan Huygens. Huygens was fascinated by pendulums and their regular swinging motion.
He noticed that the time it takes for a pendulum to complete one full swing back and forth is remarkably consistent, regardless of how far it swings. This regularity intrigued Huygens, and he realized that this consistent swing could be used to measure time.
Huygens then invented the first pendulum clock, which used the constant swing of a pendulum to regulate the movement of gears, allowing for accurate timekeeping.
This simple yet ingenious invention revolutionized time measurement and laid the foundation for the precision clocks we rely on today.
Prompt:
What everyday technology relies on a principle discovered by a 17th-century scientist while studying the shadows of a pendulum?