History of Geo- and Space Sciences
History of Geo- and Space Sciences
History of Geo- and Space Sciences
Articles | Volume 11, issue 2
Articles | Volume 11, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/hgss-11-215-2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Special issue:
https://doi.org/10.5194/hgss-11-215-2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Articles | Volume 11, issue 2
16 Sep 2020
 | 16 Sep 2020

Time and tide: pendulum clocks and gravity tides

Duncan C. Agnew

Viewed

Total article views: 3,557 (including HTML, PDF, and XML)
HTML PDF XML Total BibTeX EndNote
2,434 1,022 101 3,557 93 123
  • HTML: 2,434
  • PDF: 1,022
  • XML: 101
  • Total: 3,557
  • BibTeX: 93
  • EndNote: 123
Views and downloads (calculated since 16 Sep 2020)
Cumulative views and downloads (calculated since 16 Sep 2020)

Cited

Latest update: 29 Oct 2025
Download
Short summary
Tides from the Moon and Sun change the force of gravity. Pendulum clocks that use pendula are affected by this, but the resulting time errors are less than a millisecond over a day. These errors were measured by a few precision pendulum clocks between 1929 (the first data showing tidal gravity signals) and 1985. This paper shows the original results of each measurement and also compares these with simulations using modern tidal models.
Read more
Share
Special issue
Developments in the science and history of tides (OS/ACP/HGSS/NPG/SE...