Galileo's Discovery

Galileo made an amazing contribution to the world of time, simply by not paying attention in church.  The year was 1581 and Galileo was 17.  He was standing in the Cathedral of Pisa watching the huge chandelier swinging back and forth from the ceiling of the cathedral.  Galileo noticed that no matter how short or long the arc of the chandelier was, it took exactly the same amount of time to complete a full swing.  

   The chandelier gave Galileo the idea to create a pendulum clock.  While the clock would eventually run of energy, it would keep accurate time until the pendulum stopped.  If the pendulum was set swinging again before it stopped, there would never be a loss in accuracy.  Because of this, pendulums caught on and are still widely used today.   Can you imagine making such a big discovery?