# I waited for it! :) The Decisive Moment



## SpikeyJohnson (Oct 1, 2014)

SO, here at my work there is this peg pendulum that everyone stops to watch.  They all want to see the pendulum drop a peg but they eventually get board.  Well in honor of these people I waited, and I shot it.

There was a bit of waiting and a decisive moment.  While I was waiting the pendulum dropped a peg on the otherside of the compas.... Well I got the shot I was waiting for.




Fabled Moment by spikeyj37, on Flickr


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## tirediron (Oct 1, 2014)

Nicely captured - but what's the point of the mechanism?


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## CameraClicker (Oct 1, 2014)

Cool!


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## snerd (Oct 1, 2014)

And why are there turkeys roaming around?!


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## tirediron (Oct 1, 2014)

snerd said:


> And why are there turkeys roaming around?!


Why not?  Can't turkeys be interested in pendulums (pendulae?) too?


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## photoguy99 (Oct 1, 2014)

It is a foucalt's pendulum. Look it up for the details of the mechanism. They're pretty cool but require some patience.


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## 480sparky (Oct 1, 2014)

snerd said:


> And why are there turkeys roaming around?!



They want to take some selfies with the camera!!!!!!


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## SpikeyJohnson (Oct 1, 2014)

Haha, the turkey is an exhibit. This was the science building and they have a bunch of animal exhibits around the pendulum. Its quite an interesting little atrium.


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## Gary A. (Oct 1, 2014)

Super job in the timing. With Thanksgiving coming up those turkeys will come in handy.


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## SpikeyJohnson (Oct 1, 2014)

Thanks for the comment on timing.  I shot only one shot for that too


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## Gary A. (Oct 2, 2014)

SpikeyJohnson said:


> Thanks for the comment on timing.  I shot only one shot for that too


You are The Man. Seriously ... that makes it even better than super timing.


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## JoeW (Oct 2, 2014)

tirediron said:


> Nicely captured - but what's the point of the mechanism?


  I believe there used to be a Focault's Pendulum in the Smithsonian.  It's a very effective way to demonstrate the rotation of the earth.  The pegs are set up in a circle and the pendulum knocks them all down over a 24 hour period.


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## The_Traveler (Oct 11, 2014)

The Foucault's Pendulum demonstrates the precession of the earth as it rotates. The plane of the pendulum stays the same but that of the earth moves beneath it.


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## dannylightning (Oct 11, 2014)

nice photo, I got to look this up and find out what that is.   looks interesting.


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