Menu
Home
People
Places
Arts
History
Plants & Animals
Science
Life & Culture
Technology
Reference.org
Elastic pendulum
open-in-new
<p>In <a href="/facts/Physics/a7aH2y08">physics</a> and <a href="/facts/Mathematics/pxTouaz4">mathematics</a>, in the area of <a href="/facts/Dynamical_systems/782gREl5">dynamical systems</a>, an elastic pendulum (also called spring pendulum or swinging spring) is a <a href="/facts/Physical_system/tdSfxvIB">physical system</a> where a piece of mass is connected to a <a href="/facts/Spring_(device)/jknGXzTq">spring</a> so that the resulting motion contains elements of both a <a href="/facts/Pendulum_(mathematics)/e7ldI0ot">simple pendulum</a> and a <a href="/facts/One-dimensional/bC4W2dHd">one-dimensional</a> <a href="/facts/Spring-mass_system/7IQNToGt">spring-mass system</a>. For specific energy values, the system demonstrates all the hallmarks of <a href="/facts/Chaos_theory/LTC17vsF">chaotic behavior</a> and is <a href="/facts/Butterfly_effect/Iex6LFKu">sensitive</a> to <a href="/facts/Initial_conditions/sA4ohFP4">initial conditions</a>.At very low and very high <a href="/facts/Energy/wd8PrQM7">energy</a>, there also appears to be regular motion. The motion of an elastic pendulum is governed by a set of coupled <a href="/facts/Ordinary_differential_equation/ygKGQ8kD">ordinary differential equations</a>.This behavior suggests a complex interplay between energy states and <a href="/facts/System_dynamics/EPI2wWsI">system dynamics</a>. </p>