Double Pendulum

double pendulum is difficult to calculate
(period / angular frequency)

hello everyone! i have picked the double pendulum as a project to model. anyone have any ideas or insights?!

You should have video taped it until it stopped because at that rate it looked like it was going strong, how long did it go for? That is neat how when it swings the second piece, it generated more energy to keep it going lol.

would it be possible to get more energy out of the thing than it takes to lift it up to start it

You cannot defeat the Laws of Motion:
Energy cannot be created or destroyed.
There is an interesting commercial machine that uses a 'water hammer' effect for heating, that does appear to produce more heat for the energy it uses than it should.

does that thing ever stop or how long will it go for

The more energy you put in - lifting the arm higher to begin - the faster it starts, and longer it runs. The long arm on a good example will swing 25 times or so, the small arm much more. If you try to 'throw it' into action for even more energy, it tends to rattle side to side, rather than oscillate.

YAY! First comment! Cool vid. Did you build that yourself? You are very correct in the Chaos Theory. Although there are some similarities when the pendulum is in the early stages, very minute difference can throw the pendulum into "chaos".

Thanks - I built it because I saw a TV program on chaos theory, and couldn't find one to buy.