A double pendulum, demonstrating the three-body problem.
The three-body problem comes from physics and mathematics, specifically dynamical systems.
Double pendulums are an easy way of demonstrating the three-body problem.
In a nutshell:
- A pendulum is 100% deterministic. A pendulum's future positions are predictable once you know certain facts about it.
- A double-pendulum (which is nothing but adding another pendulum to the first one) on the other hand, behaves chaotic. Mind you, it is still deterministic. But long-term predictions where the pendulums will be in the (far) future are almost impossible.
- DoublePendulum is just a double pendulum you can drag to give it momentum
- DoublePendulumSliders has got sliders to adjust below parameters
This animation is interactive:
You can grab the middle-pendulum with your mouse and give it a push for more acceleration.
You can also adjust the pendulum-size via a slider:
Finally, you can change the gravity, too, via a slider:
