PalmOS Double Pendulum

This application simulates the motion of a double pendulum. Two point masses, connected by massless, inextensible rods, move in a frictionless, constant gravity environment.

Mathematically, this simulation is a good example of chaos theory, where a fractionally small change in the starting configuration can have a significant effect on the on-going result. The simulation starts in a random configuration, but you can select a new starting point with the Palm stylus.

Initially, a trail is drawn by the outside pendulum, but this can be swtiched off by the Preferences entry in the Options menu.

This application has only been tested under PalmOS 3.5, but the generic version may work on earlier releases. However, the 3.5 version, which exploits greyscales to produce a more attractive display, needs PalmOS 3.5 or later.

• Download PalmOS 3.5 pendulum35.zip (17222 bytes)
• Download generic pendulum.zip (17083 bytes)
• See the Java version for comparison.