Motion of a hanging chain after the free end is given an initial velocity

Herb Bailey
Mathematics Department, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Terre Haute, Indiana 47803
Received 4 June 1999; accepted 21 December 1999
One end of a chain is attached to the ceiling and the free end is given a sharp horizontal blow. The
resulting pulse travels to the top of the chain, and a few seconds later the reected pulse causes the
free end to give a kick. The free end kicks again and again at regular intervals. The time between
kicks is constant and has been accurately predicted by the solution of an ordinary differential
equation. Close observation of the nature of successive kicks shows that they are not always in the
same direction, but they do follow a pattern that repeats every four kicks. We have modeled this
experiment by solving the wave equation with variable tension and summing the resulting series
solution. The lateral deection as a function of time and distance along the chain was calculated.
The predicted deection of the free end is in good agreement with experimental results obtained
from a movie of the chain motion. 2000 American Association of Physics Teachers.
INTRODUCTION
One end of a 4-ft chain is attached to the ceiling and the
other end hangs freely. The free end is given a sharp hori-
zontal blow and the resulting motion is observed. The free
end returns quickly to near its equilibrium position and re-
mains there for about 1.4 s. The free end then kicks and
continues to kick every 1.4 s until the motion dies out. This
experiment is easily done in the classroom, and the time
between kicks is predicted quite accurately by the solution of
a simple ordinary differential equation
1,2
ODE model.
An interesting feature of the observed motion is the nature
of the successive kicks at the free end. If the initial displace-
ment is to the left, then the free end of the chain returns to
near equilibrium without swinging to the right. The rst kick
is to the right only, the second kick is left then right, the third
kick is left only, and the fourth is right then left. This pattern
then repeats. The chain moves quite rapidly during a kick
and it is difcult to follow the motion. In fact, we had done
this experiment in the classroom for many years before no-
ticing the nature of the motion during a kick. In order to
obtain quantitative results, a movie was made and the hori-
zontal deection of the free end was graphed as a function of
time.
The ODE model predicts the time between kicks but noth-
ing else about the motion. To model the deection of the
chain as a function of position and time, we consider the
wave equation with variable tension leading to a partial dif-
ferential equation model PDE model. The partial differen-
tial equation is then solved by separating variables and sum-
ming the series solution using a PC. The results are in
agreement with the experimental behavior of the chain.
The problem of the motion of a chain with one end xed
and the other free has played an important role in the history
of dynamics. Daniel Bernoulli and Leonhard Euler
3
were the
rst to discover Bessels functions while investigating the
motion of a hanging chain. These results and most of the
later results
48
discuss the lateral deection of a chain or
string for a single harmonic rather than the sum of many
harmonics as needed in our problem.
For the PDE model, we have assumed that there are a
sufcient number of links so that the chain acts like a con-
tinuous perfectly exible string and thus the motion can be
described by the wave equation with variable tension. The
discrete model for a given harmonic has been solved,
6,7
and
it was shown that the discrete and continuous solutions are in
good agreement for each of the rst ve modes, provided
there are at least 50 links in the chain. The chains that we
used have at least 100 links.
THE ODE MODEL
Figure 1 shows the chain along with a vertical x axis and
a horizontal y axis. The origin is chosen at the equilibrium
position of the free end of the chain. With the usual assump-
tions for planar motion of a exible chain or string, the
lateral deection is described
1,4,5,9
by the partial differential
equation

2
y
t
2

T
y
x

x
, 1
where is the linear mass density, T is the tension in the
chain, and t is time. If T is constant, then Eq. 1 reduces to
the usual wave equation for a stretched string, and in this
case, it is known that a small initial disturbance maintains its
waveform and travels along the chain with constant speed
T/.
For the hanging chain, T is not constant, in fact Tgx. If
an initial disturbance has moved along the chain a distance x,
and if we assume that the disturbance moves with a variable
speed T/, then this speed is given by
dx
dt
T/gx/gx. 2
Since the disturbance starts at x0, the initial condition is
x(0)0. Solving the above differential equation, subject to
this initial condition, gives xgt
2
/4.
If L is the length of the chain, then a disturbance starting at
x0 would reach the ceiling (xL) at t2L/g. Thus the
round-trip time t
RT
is then given by
t
RT
4L/g, 3
and this should be the time between kicks. This equation
agrees extremely well with our data, as shown in Table I.
764 764 Am. J. Phys. 68 8, August 2000 2000 American Association of Physics Teachers
Similar analysis and results are given by Satterly
1
and
Freeman.
2
THE PDE MODEL
In this section we nd a series solution of Eq. 1, subject
to the following boundary and initial conditions:
y L, t 0, y 0,t is nite, y x,00,
4
y
t
x,0

V, 0xL
0, xL
,
where it is assumed that the initial sharp blow imparts a
velocity V to the free end of the chain for xL. C. R.
Wylie
9
nds the series solution for this problem, but it is not
included in the more recent editions of this book. We rst
nd a dimensionless form of the above boundary value prob-
lem, then separate variables and nd a series solution, and
nally approximate the sum on a PC. These calculations are
summarized below.
Setting Tgx and introducing the dimensionless vari-
ables, Xx/L, t/L/g, and Yy/(VL/g), Eq. 1 be-
comes

2
Y

X
Y
X

X
, 5
with the corresponding boundary and initial conditions:
Y 1,0, Y 0, is nite, Y X,00,
6
Y

X,0

1, 0X
0, X1
.
Separating variables for the above boundary value problem,
by letting YW(X)Z(), reduces the partial differential
equation to two ordinary differential equations. Solving the
ordinary differential equations gives W(X)CJ
0
(2X)
DY
0
(2X) and Z()A cos()Bsin(), where is
a positive constant. J
0
is the Bessel function of the rst kind
of order zero, and Y
0
is the Bessel function of the second
kind of order zero.
Since Y(X,0)W(X)Z(0)AW(X)0, then A0. Also
since Y(0,) is nite and Y
0
(0), then D0. Thus
Y(X, )constantJ
0
(2X)sin(). Since Y(1,)0,
then J
0
(2)0. Thus can have any value, say
m
, such
that J
0
(2
m
)0. There are innitely many zeros of J
0
,
hence we have the following innite series solution of Eq.
5, subject to the conditions of Eq. 6:
Y X,

B
m
J
0
2
m
xsin
m
, 7
where the B
m
must be chosen so that the solution satises the
initial condition for the chain velocity. Thus
Y

X,0

B
m

m
J
0
2
m
X

1, 0X
0, X1
. 8
The B
m
are evaluated by multiplying both sides of Eq. 8
by J
0
(2
n
X) and then integrating with respect to X from
0 to 1. This gives

B
m

m
0
1
J
0
2
m
XJ
0
2
n
XdX

J
0
2
n
XdX. 9
Letting uX, Eq. 9 becomes

B
m

m
0
1
uJ
0
2
m
uJ
0
2
n
udu

uJ
0
2
n
udu.
10
Since the J
0
s are orthogonal,
9,10
all terms on the left are zero
except when nm. Thus
B
m

uJ
0
2
m
udu

0
1
uJ
0
2
2
m
udu

2
m
J
1
2
m

m
2
J
1
2
2
m

m
2
J
1
2
m

J
1
2
2
m

, 11
where the two integrals are known.
911
These integrals are
also given by MAPLE.
The nal step is then to substitute the above expression for
the B
m
s into Eq. 7 and use a PC to approximate the sum of
the innite series. Care must be taken to include enough
terms and to carry enough digits. We found that 100 terms
and 10 digits gave values of Y(X, ) that were not changed
signicantly by using more terms or more digits. Figure 2
Fig. 1. A chain hanging from the ceiling with a small disturbance at x.
Table I. Comparison of experimental time between kicks with that predicted
by the ODE model.
Chain
length
ft
Number
of
round
trips
Total
elapsed
time
s
Average
time for
a round
trip
Predicted
round
trip time,
4L/g
4 5 7.2 1.44 1.41
6 10 17.2 1.72 1.73
9 20 42.5 2.13 2.11
765 765 Am. J. Phys., Vol. 68, No. 8, August 2000 Herb Bailey
shows the values B
m
, the relative amplitude corresponding
to the oscillation mode m, for m from 1 to 25 and 0.025.
The graph in Fig. 3 shows the calculated values of hori-
zontal deection Y of the free of end of the chain (X0) as
a function of dimensionless time . The results were calcu-
lated with 0.025. The remaining parameters, V and L, are
absorbed into the dimensionless variables. Results for larger
values of show the same time between kicks, but with
increased amplitude and increased duration of the kicks.
Note that the free end kicks whenever is an integer mul-
tiple of 4 and this corresponds to t being an integer multiple
of 4L/g since t/L/g). Thus the solutions of the ODE
model and PDE model are in close agreement in predicting
the time between kicks. The PDE model also accurately pre-
dicts the successive directions of the kicks as described in the
Introduction.
To obtain quantitative data on the motion of the chain, we
made a movie at 30 frames per second. We then played the
movie one frame at a time, input the horizontal deection
into a PC, and graphed the results. These are shown in Fig. 4
for a 4-ft chain. The vertical axis is labeled on the left with
time in seconds and on the right with dimensionless time.
The horizontal axis is the horizontal deection of the free
end in inches. Note that for a 4-ft chain, the experimental
round-trip time is 1.41 s and this agrees with both the ODE
model and the PDE model to within a few hundredths of a
second. The general shape of the graph of the experimental
results Fig. 4 is in agreement with the PDE solution
Fig. 3.
Figure 5 shows the calculated waveforms of the entire
chain, as snapshots for six values of dimensionless time dur-
ing the rst round trip, that is, graphs of Y vs X for six values
of in the range from 0 to 4. Alpha was chosen to be 0.025
for these snapshots. The deection of the bottom link (X
0) corresponds to that shown in Fig. 3. Also it is clear that
the wave does not retain the same shape as it travels along
the chain.
FINAL REMARKS
The ODE model can be used in an introductory Physics or
Calculus course. The experiment is easy to set up, and the
required background is available after the students have
completed introductory wave theory and integration. We
used #16 single steel jack zinc plate chain from the local
hardware store. The chain was attached to a ceiling tile brace
with a bent paper clip. To see some details of the motion
without a camera, we illuminated the chain with the light
from an overhead projector and observed the chains shadow
on a white board. The initial equilibrium position of the
shadow was marked on the white board.
The PDE model makes a nice capstone project for students
who have studied solutions of partial differential equations
using separation of variables. Additional results can be ob-
tained when the initial velocity is assumed to be a Dirac delta
function, and, in this case, the computations are similar to
those above.
Another variation in the initial conditions is to give the
chain an initial deection with zero initial velocity. For ex-
ample if the initial deection is a line given by Yk(X
1), then a series expansion analogous to Eq. 7 can be
found, and for this case the series is dominated by the rst
Fig. 2. Relative amplitude, B
m
, for the rst 25 modes of oscillation.
Fig. 3. PDE solution for the deection of the free end versus time with
0.025.
Fig. 4. Experimental data from the movie showing the deection of the free
end versus time.
766 766 Am. J. Phys., Vol. 68, No. 8, August 2000 Herb Bailey
term. Thus the oscillation is quite close to the fundamental
mode. This is an easy initial condition to impose experimen-
tally, and the period of oscillation will be close to the fun-
damental period.
A surprising result is that the ODE model predicts the time
between kicks within a few hundredths of a second, in spite
of the fact that the wave does not even come close to retain-
ing its form as it travels up and down the chain, as was
assumed for this model. Perhaps one could nd a more real-
istic model that would lead to the same differential equation.
Because of the antiquity of the hanging chain problem, it
was surprising to me and to the editor and referees of this
Journal that none of us is aware of any previous discussion
of the subjects treated in this paper. Although such a discus-
sion may exist somewhere in the literature, a search of avail-
able mechanics texts and the pages of this and other journals
have not turned up any such discussion.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author thanks Professor Mike Moloney and Professor
Charles Joenathan for their help with the motion pictures. I
also thank the referees for their valuable suggestions.
1
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2
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3
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4
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5
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6
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7
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8
A. Western, Demonstration for observing J
0
(x) on a resonant rotating
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9
C. Wylie, Advanced Engineering Mathematics McGrawHill, New York,
1975, 4th ed., pp. 388427.
10
C. Edwards and D. Pinney, Differential Equations and Boundary Value
Problems PrenticeHall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1999, 2nd ed., pp. 578,
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11
C. Trantner, Bessel Functions with Some Physical Applications Hart, New
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E-MAIL
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Matthew L. Wald, Conversations with Clifford Stoll, New York Times, April 30, 1995.
Fig. 5. Calculated waveforms with 0.025 for various values of time.
767 767 Am. J. Phys., Vol. 68, No. 8, August 2000 Herb Bailey