Double Pendulum

Every physics department needs a double pendulum, so here's how I built ours. The big improvement is that the bottom pendulum can be locked in place. This turns the chaotic double pendulum into a non-chaotic physical pendulum.

This project was originally published 31.Aug.2007 on instructables.com as part of their Science Fair contest.

Introduction

I'm going to be lazy and skip writing a big long introduction or explanation for this and just focus on how mine is put together. The links below are good starting points for background info.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_theory

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_pendulum

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pendulum_(mathematics)

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/pendp.html

http://www.myphysicslab.com/dbl_pendulum.html (Simulation)

http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~wheat/sdpend/ (a neat version made from two square plates).

Top Pendulum Assembly

Bottom Pendulum Assembly

Complete Double Pendulum Assembly

CAD Files

Video

Please send any questions or comments to me at sbtroy@phys.washington.edu.

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Go to the Lecture Demonstration webpage.