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Ornament Pendulum Chaos on the Tree

A real double pendulum — one ornament hanging from another on a tree branch — solved with the full nonlinear coupled equations of motion via RK4. Drag either ornament to set the starting angle, then spawn a near-identical twin and watch chaos amplify a tiny difference exponentially.

Physics & Mechanics3DModerate60 FPS📱 Mobile-adapted⇄ 2D version
3d-ornament-pendulum-chaos ↗ Open standalone

A real double pendulum, dressed up as one bauble hanging from another on a tree branch: two rigid links, two masses, and the full nonlinear coupled equations of motion, integrated with RK4 rather than a small-angle shortcut so the genuine deterministic chaos survives. Drag either ornament to aim the starting angle, drop it, then spawn a twin that starts a fraction of a degree away and watch the two swings — identical equations, near-identical start — tear apart from each other exponentially, with a live Benettin-method estimate of the Lyapunov exponent driving that divergence.

⚙ Under the hood

A real double pendulum — one ornament hanging from another on a tree branch — solved with the full nonlinear coupled equations of motion via RK4, with a spawnable near-identical twin to reveal exponential sensitivity to initial conditions.

double-pendulumchaos-theorynonlinear-dynamicssensitivity-to-initial-conditionsnew-year

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install

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