4Particular Applications
Among the distinctive and illustrative applications of the fundamental principle, the Earth’s motion is one particularly unique example. Indeed, it is highly complex, but simplified approaches can be made for the purposes of demonstration. One of the important factors of this complexity is the model which should be used to describe the body in motion since its inertial characteristics play a fundamental role in the expression of the equation. So, in the context of a simplified approach, we can consider that the Earth is a simple sphere, rotating around its polar axes; or an ellipsoid rotating around the same axis. Different approaches will be explored in the following section.
Foucault’s pendulum is another interesting case. This section is mostly drawn from the article published by Michel Cazin in the magazine Sciences of July 2000, pp. 44–59; in no way does the present chapter claim to present that particular work which is very in-depth and largely surpasses the scope of this title. We will simply lead the developments towards the movement equations and will present the conclusions surrounding motion reached by the author.
4.1. Simulation of the motion of Earth
4.1.1. Application of the fundamental principle
The Earth is not subject to any linkage; its motion is mainly due to the various forces of attraction that the bodies of the solar system apply onto it. Therefore, in the context of the application of the fundamental principle, it is treated ...