Physics · Sensitive dependence

Double pendulum chaos

Classic double pendulum chaos lab. Adjust initial angles, rod lengths and masses; watch the second bob draw a fading trail. Optional damping, gravity, pause, reset and slight-perturbation to show sensitive dependence. Lightweight canvas, EN+ES.

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Chaos lab — double pendulum

L1 (upper)0.65 mL2 (lower)0.55 m

m1m2

Damping2%g9.8 m/s²Speed1.00×

θ1

90°

θ2

0°

ω1

0.00

ω2

0.00

Δ tip

0.000 m

Drag either bob to set angles. Presets (1/2/3) or keys: Space pause, R reset, P perturb, T twin, C clear. The twin (violet) starts with Δθ₁ ≈ 0.0015 rad and diverges rapidly. Δ tip shows current tip separation.

Classic nonlinear system. The twin shows sensitive dependence: tiny initial differences diverge rapidly. Δ tip quantifies the separation. Energy is conserved without damping.

Guide: Canvas & WebGL performance

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