The pendulum in its new home in the Science and Technology Center.

One of the most memorable features of the recently demolished Peirce Science Center at Clarion University was a pendulum. For much of that building's over 40-year existence, the pendulum, suspended through three floors of the building swung with the earth's movement.

            The new $34 Million Science and Technology Center, opened in 2009, did not have a place for the pendulum to be operational. For the countless alumni, who passed the campus' ultimate swinger every time they went to class in Peirce, it is now

Clarion University facilities management personnel install the case and the pendulum.

 preserved.

            A customized case in Science and Technology Center, purchased through PEMCO, is now housing the top-shaped pendulum in a miniature reproduction of its original home in Peirce.

            The Peirce pendulum was designed to exhibit the efforts of French physicist Jean Focault (1819-68) to demonstrate that the earth rotates. The pendulum was part of Peirce Science Center's construction in 1968, but did not work due to a flaw in the design of the pendulum manufacturer. The designer died and the company was unable to supply the original design so it could be made to work.

            It was a student, Richard Burns, who received his degree from Clarion University in 1982, who got the pendulum to work for the first time. He liked the design and channeled his interest into getting it to work.

            The pendulum swung for several years before a leak in the roof damaged its electronic system and it stopped. The pendulum system operated because of a magnetic plate in the floor, which was triggered every time the pendulum crossed over it. The magnetic field created prevented the pendulum from coming to a stop because of air friction.

            Burns, then an engineer for Ball Aerospace in Colorado, came to the rescue again in 1988. His father, Ed, at that time an electrical foreman with the Clarion University maintenance department, contacted his son after the roof leaks were repaired to look at the system again. The younger burns redesigned the electrical system and the pendulum continued its freewheeling way, taking approximately 36 hours and 18 minutes to complete its plane of swing.

            That continued until the abandoning of Peirce with the opening of the Science and Technology Center. Now the pendulum will remain an intriguing scientific knowledge for all who visit the Science and Technology Center.

            Clarion University is the high-achieving, nationally recognized, comprehensive university that delivers a personal and challenging academic experience.

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