Chaos Pendulum

Chaos Pendulum

The Kontax Chaos Pendulum is a beautiful double pendulum that perfectly demonstrates chaotic motion. The pendulum has an anodised and natural aluminium construction, solid brass counterweights and high precision free running ball-race bearings. When set in motion the secondary swinging arms and rings will rotate, swirl and change direction completely at random.

How it works

A chaos pendulum is typically a double pendulum, with two pendulums connected end to end. It is a simple system that displays complex and chaotic behavior, meaning that its motion is very sensitive to the initial conditions and unpredictable in the long term, exhibiting complex and rich dynamics. The Kontax Chaos Pendulum is set in motion by hand, and the system undergoes transitions between different types of motion, such as periodic, quasi-periodic, or chaotic. It can be used to demonstrate and explore the concepts of chaos theory, nonlinear dynamics, and bifurcations.

Configurable

The Kontax Chaos Pendulum is highly configurable, and is supplied with 4 different types of swinging arms that can be assembled in 4 main configurations. 3 different pairs of counterweights are supplied which can be attached to the swinging arms to give even more configurations. The 4 main configurations can be seen in the product images.

Experimentation

In addition to experimenting with the mechanical configurations there are many ways to experiment with the initial starting conditions. The swinging arms or ring can be lifted above horizontal and allowed to fall under gravity, which gives a gentle periodic or quasi-periodic side to side motion. The arms and ring can be set swinging with more force, and the oscillations will tend to more chaotic side to side behaviour. If the base is held steady with one hand and the arms or ring set in motion with enough force to throw the long arm through a full rotation then full chaotic behaviour will be displayed, with the long arm rotating with some speed before suddenly slowing and transferring its momentum to the attached arms or ring, and then these will rotate with some speed before transferring their energy back to the long arm. Eventually the system will settle down into chaotic side to side motion and then slow down further to display periodic or quasi-periodic motion.

Main features:

• Lightweight swing arms
• Heavy counterweights
• Demonstrates chaotic motion
• Highly configurable
• High precision free running ball-race bearings

Materials

• Aluminium swing arms
• Brass counterweights
• Anodised aluminium base and support arm

Dimensions

• Base- 100mm diameter, 10mm thick (3.93" x 0.39")
• Overall height - 110mm (4.33")

Kit

The pendulum is supplied as a self-assembly kit. Assembly should take between 10-15 minutes and clear instructions are provided.

Instructions

Click the image below for PDF assembly, operation and maintenance instructions for this Chaos Pendulum.