Double pendulum: energy and chaos
Two bobs on rigid massless rods, both swinging under gravity, with the lower bob pinned to the end of the upper rod. The Lagrangian gives coupled velocity-dependent equations of motion; the qualitative behavior ranges from quasi-periodic at low energy to fully chaotic above the lowest saddle in the potential. Drag a bob to set its initial angle; double-click the canvas to zero out velocities.
m1
1.0 kg
m2
1.0 kg
l1
1.00 m
l2
1.00 m
θ1 (rad): 0.5000
θ2 (rad): -0.3000
E (J): 0.0000
|dE/E| from t=0: 0.0e+00
Poincaré count: 0
0.5000-0.30000.00000.0e+000WHAT TO TRY
- Vary each control and watch the rail readouts respond.
- Compare the diagnostic plot against the live scene.