An account of experiments to determine the acceleration of the pendulum in different latitudes

• Published in: Abstracts of the Papers Printed in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: The Royal Society 1833
• Subjects: Greenland; Hare Island; Kater; North West Passage
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspl.1815.0150; https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspl.1815.0150

The clocks and pendulums used in these experiments are the property of the Royal Society, and were prepared by their direction, under the superintendance of Captain Kater, whose description of them is quoted by the author at the commencement of this paper. The experiments were made during two voyages of discovery in search of a North-west Passage, the first in 1818, and the second in 1819 and 1820; and Captain Sabine details in succession the proceedings at each station, where an opportunity was afforded of landing and setting up the clocks; and concludes by recapitulating the number of vibrations made by each pendulum in the different latitudes in which it was tried, and by stating the deductions regarding the figure of the earth which follow from the acceleration thus determined. In the first voyage, the number of vibrations was ascertained at two stations only; namely, at Gardie House on the Island of Brassa, and on Waygat, or Hare Island, on the West coast of Greenland; the latitude of the first being 60° 9' 42" N., and of the second 70° 26' 17" N. The number of vibrations in a mean solar day at London being 86497·4, at Brassa they were 86530·507, and at Hare Island 86562·6386; giving an acceleration of 33·107 vibrations between London and Brassa, and of 32·1316 between Brassa and Hare Island; or 65·2386 between London and Hare Island.