Allais effect
The Allais effect describes the unexplained increase in speed of a moving pendulum during a solar eclipse. It was first observed in 1954 by Maurice Allais, a French economist who went on to win the Nobel prize for Economics.
Many scientists dispute whether such an effect can be consistenly observed. Others believe that if such an effect does exist it can be explained by
- the seismic disturbance caused by a large number of people moving to and from a place where an eclipse is visible
- denser air cooled by the moon's shadow exerting a different gravitational pull on the pendulum
- the cooling of the Earth's crust caused by the shadow of the eclipse
However, there is growing evidence that the Allais effect does exist and it is believed by some to represent the only gross anomaly outstanding in the current scheme of physical knowledge.
