Re: A rotating Earth?

[Joseph Bellina <jbellina@SAINTMARYS.EDU>]

We could of course raise the question asked by Mach...is the Foucault
Pendulum evidence that the earth is rotating.  If the stars were indeed
rotating and earth not, you might expect the pendulum to behave in the
same way.

cheers

On Thu, 3 Feb 2000, Leigh Palmer wrote:

> > Tycho Brahe's model was geostatic, combining parts of the geocentric and the
> > heliocentric models.    Brahe pictured  the Sun and the moon (and presumably
> > the stars) orbiting around the earth, but the planets rotated around the
> > sun.
>
> The crucial question is whether Brahe considered the Earth to rotate.
> I can't find that in local references (my Kuhn is at home, but I don't
> recall seeing it there).
>
> > Kepler, using Brahe's own data on Mars, showed that the geostatic model was
> > not correct.
>
> Kepler was a Copernican. He certainly accepted a rotating Earth. His
> analysis did not speak to that question, however. It was not settled
> empirically (to my limited knowledge) until Foucault's demonstration.
>
> Leigh