Huygens' Clock Puzzle Solved

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Posted by Hemos on Wednesday February 20, 2002 @08:30PM from the tick-tock-tick-tick-tock dept.

PhotoGuy writes "Okay, I haven't heard of this puzzle either until now, but it sounds like a fascinating phenomenon. According to this article:Huygens had two clocks side by side and he found that even when they began out of sync, they soon got into a rhythm where the pendulum on one moved as if it were a mirror image of the other.The article is pretty light on the explanation, noting only the conditions required (small relative mass of the pendulums [pendula?], relatively close speed of the clocks), and not really addressing the physics behind it. " There's a great site at Georgia Tech that explains the puzzle in more detail.

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first post by Anonymous Coward · 2002-02-20 20:31 · Score: -1, Troll

Eat it, logged in losers. ACs rule!
1. Re:first post by darkmoon · 2002-02-20 23:48 · Score: 0, Troll
  
  As a logged in user, I claim this AC's first post for Nader, whose anti-semitic first post reclamations always make me laugh.
well you see by Anonymous Coward · 2002-02-20 20:34 · Score: -1, Troll

the solution is that clocks are actually fucking sheep, like Slashdot users
Happy Negro Month by Anonymous Coward · 2002-02-20 20:35 · Score: -1, Troll

This post is dedicated to all the Negroes.
Here is wishing you a safe and sane Negro Month.
Remember: February is Negro Month.
This fucking sucks by Anonymous Coward · 2002-02-20 20:52 · Score: -1, Troll

This sucks!
Mysteries of the Unknown should be remain secret and not poked and probed by man. Man's craving for knowledge is responsible for the most evils in the modern world.
This is News? by Anonymous Coward · 2002-02-20 21:14 · Score: 0, Troll

So this was featured in the March issue of Wired.... from last year? And on Sciencenews.com, in October 2000?
Even the article states that the problem, posed in 1657, is 338 years old - dating the article to 1995.
Sure, the last one could be a typo, but this is not news
Periods by seanadams.com · 2002-02-20 21:20 · Score: 2, Troll

My g/f in high school used to start her period on exactly the same day as all the other girls on her soccer team - amazing. I've also heard that girls often have their periods in sync with their mothers'. Has anyone formally attempted to relate this to the pendulum phenomenon?