EXPERIMENT 001 · MECHANICS

At the edge of chaos.

Nearly identical starts. Completely different paths.

Double pendulum

Starting the experiment…0.0 s

● first last ●5 pendulums

Speed

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Pendulum divergencePhase trajectories

Selected charts appear below and update as the pendulums move.

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Why do the paths diverge?

The pendulums have identical lengths and masses, but their lower arms start at slightly different angles. In chaotic motion, even this tiny difference grows rapidly, making long-term prediction difficult. Reduce the angles and compare how the motion changes.

Idealized model
No friction · 1 kg masses
Gravitational acceleration: 9.81 m/s²

Experiment video

Double pendulum

Watch the short video, then try changing the model’s parameters yourself.

Video in Russian

Watch on YouTube