Chaotic pendulum

A simple mechanical system in which a small difference between initial conditions can create completely different trajectories.

Tips for trying:

• Use mouse or touch to define the initial conditions of the two pendulums and click Play to evolve them side by side.
• If the two conditions were almost equal, the evolution may look indistinguishable for a few seconds.
• The most interesting are those cases in which the centre of mass is just above the pivot. Attention, initial momenta are zeroed when manipulating.

See also

• Source code
• Something broken?
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