Magnetic Pendulum
Interactive simulation of a pendulum swinging over magnets, demonstrating beautiful deterministic chaos patterns.
About Magnetic Pendulum
Drop a pendulum above a cluster of magnets and watch where it lands — then nudge the starting position by a hair and watch it land somewhere completely different. That's the core of this simulation. You drag the pendulum bob to any position, release it, and the physics engine traces its chaotic path as competing magnetic forces pull it in every direction at once. Each landing zone gets painted a distinct color, and over time the canvas fills with fractal-edged regions that reveal just how sensitive the system is to tiny changes.
It's a hands-on demonstration of deterministic chaos: the rules are fixed, but the outcomes feel unpredictable. If you enjoy watching systems evolve from simple inputs, Double Pendulum explores the same sensitive-dependence ideas with a different mechanical setup. Both sit comfortably in the interactive simulations category.
Works best on a desktop or laptop where precise mouse placement lets you probe the boundaries between color regions — those razor-thin edges are where the chaos is most visible.
How to use
This is a physics simulation showing how a magnetic pendulum moves under chaotic forces. • Watch the pendulum swing in real-time from above and side view panels • Hold Shift key and hover over either view panel to grab and move the pendulum with your mouse • Use sliders in the center panel to adjust gravity, spring constant, and individual magnet strengths • Blue circles around magnets show their magnetic field strength - larger circles mean stronger magnets • Click "Add Magnet" to place new magnets, or try preset arrangements from the links • Click "Start/Stop" to pause or resume the simulation • Click "Show Trace" to see the complete path the pendulum has traveled • Click "Clear Trace" to erase the path trail • Experiment with different magnet positions and strengths to see how they create chaotic, unpredictable motion patterns The goal is to explore chaos theory by observing how small changes in magnet placement or strength create dramatically different pendulum behaviors.
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