Calculate The Acceleration of A Pendulum

calculate the acceleration of a pendulum
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programming/programming-natural-simulations/programming-
oscillations/a/trig-and-forces-the-pendulum
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Trig and forces: the pendulum

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Do you remember Newton’s laws of motion from a couple sections back?

Back then, we used those laws to calculate the acceleration of an object, so
that we could compute and draw its new position in the world. Now, we're
going to use those laws to calculate the acceleration of a pendulum, to
compute and draw its position along the swing. And as it turns out, we're
going to need some help from trigonometry along the way.
A pendulum is a bob suspended from a pivot. Obviously a real-world
pendulum would live in a 3D space, but we’re going to look at a simpler
scenario, a pendulum in a 2D space—the program canvas .
Diagram of pendulum with angles

In the Forces section, we learned how a force (such as the force of gravity
shown in the diagram above) causes an object to accelerate: F = M \times
AF=M×AF, equals, M, times, A, orA = F / MA=F/MA, equals, F, slash, M.
In this case, however, the pendulum bob doesn’t simply fall to the ground,
since it is attached by an arm to the pivot point. Instead the bob swings
towards its rest position, and we want to compute the acceleration of the
bob along the swing. We'll call that its angular acceleration, since the
pendulum is accelerating along an arc.
In order to determine the pendulum's angular acceleration, we need to break
the force of gravity into components. One component will be along the
pendulum arm. We can ignore that component because the arm is always
pulling against it, cancelling it out. The other component is perpendicular to
the arm. That's the one we care about, because it's pulling the pendulum
"sideways", making it swing. Let’s zoom in on the pendulum diagram and
visualize those components of the gravity force:
F_gFgF, start subscript, g, end subscript is the total force of gravity
downwards. F_pFpF, start subscript, p, end subscript is the force of gravity
perpendicular to the arm of the pendulum, pointing in the opposite direction
that the pendulum is swinging. F_aFaF, start subscript, a, end subscript is the
force of gravity along the arm, which we'll ignore since it won't affect the
angular acceleration.
Now how do we calculate F_pFpF, start subscript, p, end subscript? This is
where we use our trigonometry. F_gFgF, start subscript, g, end subscript is
the hypotenuse of a right triangle, and \thetaθtheta is the angle of the arm.
Sine equals opposite over hypotenuse:
\sin(\theta) = \dfrac{F_p}{F_g}sin(θ)=FgFpsine, left parenthesis,
theta, right parenthesis, equals, start fraction, F, start subscript, p, end
subscript, divided by, F, start subscript, g, end subscript, end fraction
Therefore:
F_p = F_g \cdot \sin(\theta)Fp=Fg⋅sin(θ)F, start subscript, p, end
subscript, equals, F, start subscript, g, end subscript, dot, sine, left
parenthesis, theta, right parenthesis
Great, we now have a simple formula to compute F _pFpF, start subscript, p,
end subscript. Now let's circle back to our original question: What is the
angular acceleration of the pendulum? Once we find the angular
acceleration, we’ll be able to apply our rules of motion to find the new angle
for the pendulum.
angular velocity = angular velocity + angular acceleration
angle = angle + angular velocity
Thanks to Newton’s second law, we know that there is a relationship
between force and acceleration, namely F = M \times AF=M×AF, equals, M,
times, A, or A = F / MA=F/MA, equals, F, slash, M, and we can use that
relationship with the formula above to compute an angular acceleration. See
if you can follow this:
Starting with:
perpendicular force = force due to gravity * sine(θ)
Then we divide the right side by mass, to come up with the acceleration,
based on Newton's second law:
angular acceleration = (force due to gravity * sine(θ)) / mass
Then we realize we can just divide the force due to gravity by mass, and
that's the same thing as acceleration due to gravity, so we'll just substitute
that:
angular acceleration = acceleration due to gravity * sine (θ)
Ta-da! We now have a way to calculate the angular acceleration.
We can simplify that even further, since we're ProcessingJS programmers and
not physicists. Yes, we know that the acceleration due to gravity on earth is
9.8 meters per second squared. But this number isn’t relevant to us. In our
programs, our "gravity" is just an arbitrary number, one that we can use to
scale the acceleration to something that feels right.
angular acceleration = gravity * sine(θ)
Amazing. After all that, the formula is so simple. You might be wondering,
why bother going through the derivation at all? I mean, learning is great and
all, but we could have easily just said, "Hey, the angular acceleration of a
pendulum is some constant times the sine of the angle."
This is just another moment in which we remind ourselves that the purpose
of the course is not to learn how pendulums swing or gravity works. The
point is to think creatively about how things can move about the screen in a
computationally based graphics system. The pendulum is just a case study. If
you can understand the approach to programming a pendulum, then
however you choose to design your onscreen world, you can apply the same
techniques.
Of course, we’re not finished yet. We may be happy with our simple, elegant
formula, but we still have to apply it in code. This is most definitely a good
time to practice our object-oriented programming skills and create
aPendulum object. Let’s think about all the properties we’ve encountered in
our pendulum discussion that the object will need to keep track of:
 arm length
 angle
 angular velocity
 angular acceleration
Plus we'll also want to specify where the pendulum is hanging from, so we
could start with a constructor like this:
var Pendulum = function(origin, armLength) {
this.origin = origin;
this.armLength = armLength;
this.angle = PI/4;
this.aVelocity = 0.0;
this.aAcceleration = 0.0;
};
We’ll also need to write an update() method to update the pendulum’s angle
according to our formula…
Pendulum.prototype.update = function() {
// Arbitrary constant
var gravity = 0.4;
// Calculate acceleration
this.aAcceleration = 1 * gravity * sin(this.angle);
// Increment velocity
this.aVelocity += this.aAcceleration;
// Increment angle
this.angle += this.aVelocity;
};
…as well as a display() method to draw the pendulum in the window. This
begs the question: “Um, where do we draw the pendulum?” We know the
angle and the arm length, but how do we know the x,y (Cartesian!)
coordinates for both the pendulum’s pivot point (let’s call it origin) and bob
location (let’s call it position)? This may be getting a little tiring, but the
answer, yet again, is trigonometry. Let's reference the diagram to the left.
The origin is just something we make up, as is the arm length. Let’s say we
construct our pendulum like so:
var p = new Pendulum(new PVector(100, 10), 125);
We're storing the current angle on the angle property. So relative to the
origin, the pendulum’s position is a polar coordinate: (r,angle). And we need
it to be Cartesian. Luckily for us, we spent some time in the Angles section
deriving the formula for converting from polar to Cartesian. In that section,
our angle was relative to the horizontal axis, but here, it's relative to the
vertical axis, so we end up using sin() for the x position and cos() for the y
position, instead of cos() and sin(), respectively. And so, we can calculate
the position relative to the origin using that conversion formula, and then
add the origin position to it:
this.position = new PVector(
this.armLength * sin(this.angle),
this.armLength * cos(this.angle));
this.position.add(this.origin);
stroke(0, 0, 0);
fill(175, 175, 175);
line(this.origin.x, this.origin.y, this.position.x, this.position.y);
ellipse(this.position.x, this.position.y, 16, 16);
Before we put everything together, there’s one last little detail I neglected to
mention. Let’s think about the pendulum arm for a moment. Is it a metal
rod? A string? A rubber band? How is it attached to the pivot point? How long
is it? What is its mass? Is it a windy day? There are a lot of questions that we
could continue to ask that would affect the simulation. We’re living, of
course, in a fantasy world, one where the pendulum’s arm is some idealized
rod that never bends and the mass of the bob is concentrated in a single,
infinitesimally small point.
Nevertheless, even though we don’t want to worry ourselves with all of the
questions, we should add one more variable to our calculation of angular
acceleration. To keep things simple, in our derivation of the pendulum’s
acceleration, we assumed that the length of the pendulum’s arm is 1. In fact,
the length of the pendulum’s arm affects the acceleration greatly: the longer
the arm, the slower the acceleration. To simulate a pendulum more
accurately, we divide by that length, in this case armLength. For a more
involved explanation, visit The Simple Pendulum website.
this.aAcceleration = (1 * gravity / this.armLength) * sin(this.angle);
Finally, a real-world pendulum is going to experience some amount of friction
(at the pivot point) and air resistance. With our code as is, the pendulum
would swing forever, so to make it more realistic we can use a “damping”
trick. I saytrick because rather than model the resistance forces with some
degree of accuracy (as we did in the Forces section), we can achieve a
similar result by simply reducing the angular velocity during each cycle. The
following code reduces the velocity by 1% (or multiplies it by 99%) during
each frame of animation:
this.aVelocity *= this.damping;
Putting everything together, we have the following example. We've added a
bit of functionality to make it easy to drag the bob and drop it from different
heights, too. Try it out!
This "Natural Simulations" course is a derivative of "The Nature of Code" by
Daniel Shiffman, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-
NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
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awk888
5 years ago
This is my code, but it says "Looks like you're storing the current origin in a local variable. You'll want to
make that an object property so you can use it in other methods. " what should I do? Help!
angleMode = "radians";

this.position = new PVector();
this.angle = 0;
this.damping = 0.995;
this.ballRadius = 25.0;
this.dragging = false;
};
Pendulum.prototype.go = function() {
this.update();
this.display();
};
// As long as we aren't dragging the pendulum, let it swing!
if (!this.dragging) {
var gravity = 0.4;
this.aAcceleration = (-1 * gravity / this.armLength) * sin(this.angle);
// Arbitrary damping
// Increment angle
}
};
Pendulum.prototype.display = function() {
if (this.origin instanceof PVector){
this.currehtOrigin = this.origin;
} else {
this.currentOrigin = this.origin.position;
}
this.position.add(this.origin);
stroke(0, 0, 0);
strokeWeight(3);
line(this.origin.x, this.origin.y, this.position.x, this.position.y);
fill(224, 194, 134);
if (this.dragging) {
fill(143, 110, 44);
}
ellipse(this.position.x, this.position.y, this.ballRadius, this.ballRadius);
};
var limbLength = 75;

var leftArm1 = new Pendulum(new PVector(width/2-50, 110));
var leftArm2 = new Pendulum(leftArm1, limbLength);
Pendulum.prototype.handleClick = function(mx, my) {
var d = dist(mx, my, this.position.x, this.position.y);
if (d < this.ballRadius) {
this.dragging = true;
}
};
Pendulum.prototype.stopDragging = function() {
this.aVelocity = 0;
};
Pendulum.prototype.handleDrag = function(mx, my) {

var diff = PVector.sub(this.origin, new PVector(mx, my));
this.angle = atan2(-1*diff.y, diff.x) - radians(90);
}
};

var leftArm1 = new Pendulum(new PVector(width/2-50, 110), limbLength);
var rightArm1 = new Pendulum(new PVector(width/2+50, 110), limbLength);
var leftLeg1 = new Pendulum(new PVector(width/2+40, 230), limbLength);
var rightLeg1 = new Pendulum(new PVector(width/2-40, 230), limbLength);
var limbs = [leftLeg1, leftLeg2,

rightLeg1, rightLeg2,
leftArm1, leftArm2,
rightArm1, rightArm2];
draw = function() {
background(255);
// Draw the body

strokeWeight(7);
line(width/2-50, 110, width/2+50, 110);
line(width/2, 110, width/2, 230);
line(width/2-40, 230, width/2+40, 230);
fill(224, 194, 134);
rect(width/2-25, 39, 50, 64, 30);
fill(0, 0, 0);
strokeWeight(0.4);
ellipse(191,63,20/4,20/4);
ellipse(209,63,20/4,20/4);
fill(255, 255, 255);
ellipse(191,63,3,3);
ellipse(209,63,3,3);
fill(224, 194, 134);
strokeWeight(3);
line(191,91,209,91);
for (var i = 0; i < limbs.length; i++){
limbs[i].go();
}
};
mousePressed = function() {
limbs[i].handleClick(mouseX, mouseY);
}
};
mouseDragged = function() {
limbs[i].handleDrag(mouseX, mouseY);
}
};
mouseReleased = function() {
limbs[i].stopDragging();
}
};
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Emily Bartee
4 years ago
Not sure, but it may be because you have 'current' spelled wrong in your if function :
if (this.origin instanceof PVector){

this.currehtOrigin = this.origin;
} else {
}
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John Preston Cua
5 years ago
Hi,
The article seems to jump from giving us the
sin(theta) = Fp/Fg formula to
I understand that there is a different article that explains why to add the division by this.armLength....
However, my question now is why add the part where u multiply by -1, when the foundation/basic formula is
sin(theta) = Fp/Fg formula to which works out to
Fg * sin(theta) = Fp or Fp = Fg * sin(theta)
And in the ProcessingJS world where 0 0 normally starts on the top left of the screen, Fg should be a positive
number so that the position will go down as the number gets incremented. By multiplying it by -1, isn't it the
reverse of Fg already?
Thank you....
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Bob Lyon
5 years ago
You are very observant, but the -1 has nothing to do with the default grid layout of the Processing.js canvas.
This section makes my head explode every time I look at it. It is because the original author abandoned all
the previous sections and instead concentrated on angular displacements, angular velocities
and angularaccelerations as a "simplifying" move. (KA's only fault is republishing it... I vented about this
long ago and I agreed that there was no real choice but to keep the original text.)
A way to look at it goes all the way back to the first picture of this section. The angle is the pendulum's
angle relative to the vertical axis (and not the traditional horizontal axis). So angle zero is the resting
position. When the angle is positive, the sine of the angle is positive and we want the effects of gravity to
"pull" the bob back towards the zero angle, so the -1 is necessary. Similarly, when the angle is negative, its
sine is negative and we still want the effects of gravity to "pull" the bob back towards the zero angle, but
now that pulling must be positive, so the -1 is necessary. (Clear as mud, right? i tried...)
Note that the variable gravity is only expressing gravitational effects. With more time and possible
confusion, I could make the argument that the gravity variable should always be a negative number, thus
obviating the -1.
The other effects of basing the angle off of the vertical axis is reflected in the display method. There you
notice that the X coordinate is computed using the sine of the angle while the Y coordinate uses the cosine.
This is bass ackwards from what a casual observer (like you or me) would expect.
Bonus: Now explain the initialization of the pendulum's angle as computed by the handleDrag method. Do
not let your head explode.
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CountOfTrouble
5 years ago
Anyone know the correct formatting to get it to accept the first step?
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Kevin Looby
5 years ago
You need to use for loops to loop through the limb array. The grader won't accept it if you list out all of the
limbs one-by-one.
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hideotsubouchi
5 years ago
This is regarding Challenge: Pendulum puppet step two.
I have been thinking of this for weeks, I still cannot find an answer.
Any help will be highly appreciated.
As pointed out below, by Bob Lyon, the program certainly works well by passing a PVector or a Pendulum
object to the origin argument of the Pendulum constructor function.
However, I think it should also work if either a PVector or a position of another instance (e.g.,
rightArm1.position) is passed as an origin argument when Pendulum instances are made. Then, in the case
that a position of another instance is used, a new position will be calculated based on the position of another
instance as the origin.
I tried this, but even when a position of another instance was used as the origin, the origin is set to x = 0, y
= 0, doesn't go anywhere else. I don't understand why.
I have monitored the positions of limbs (e.g., for rightArm1, text(rightArm1.position, ....) etc ).
rightArm1.position is certainly getting correct numbers (x = ~250, y = ~185).
Any help/suggestion will be highly appreciated.

Thanks for your help in advance!
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seannam1218
3 years ago
I just want to say this is exactly what I tried, and could not get it to work. Thank you guys for clearing it up,
I'm leaving a comment here so I can refer to this discussion in the future.
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Vlad Winter
5 years ago
Regarding the Pendulum Puppet challenge:

I can't figure out how to get access to Limb1 from Limb2. If there where pointers it would be easy.
However, when I pass the Limb1 parameter into Limb2 constructor, I just make a new copy of Limb1 and
those changes made to Limb2 by the limb2.display function don't get passed into the copy limb2 makes.
Any suggestions?
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Bob Lyon
5 years ago
I made it so you pass either a PVector object or a Pendulum object as the origin argument to
the Pendulum constructor function. Then, within the display method I immediately set a new
property,currentOrigin which describes the pivot point of this pendulum using the
Javascript instanceof operator:
if (this.origin instanceof PVector) {
this.currentOrigin = this.origin;
} else {
}
Then I can use the currentOrigin property knowing it's always the pivot point of the pendulum.
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Kayla Fuhriman
3 years ago
I'm stuck on step two of pendulum puppet. When you pick up the bottom pendulums, they kind of jump up
and then they start swinging. I'm not sure what's wrong with it. Here is the code.

this.angle = 0;
};
this.update();
this.display();
};
var gravity = 0.4;
// Increment angle
}
};
if(this.origin instanceof PVector){
} else {
}
this.position.add(this.currentOrigin);
stroke(0, 0, 0);
strokeWeight(3);
line(this.currentOrigin.x, this.currentOrigin.y, this.position.x, this.position.y);
fill(224, 194, 134);
fill(143, 110, 44);
}
};

}
};
this.aVelocity = 0;
};
var diff = PVector.sub(this.origin, new PVector(mx, my));
}
};

var leftArm2 = new Pendulum(leftArm1, limbLength);
var rightArm2 = new Pendulum(rightArm1, limbLength);
var leftLeg2 = new Pendulum(leftLeg1, limbLength);
var rightLeg2 = new Pendulum(rightLeg1, limbLength);

leftArm1, leftArm2,
draw = function() {
background(255);
// Draw the body

strokeWeight(4);
line(width/2-50, 110, width/2+50, 110);
line(width/2-40, 230, width/2+40, 230);
fill(224, 194, 134);
rect(width/2-25, 39, 50, 64, 30);

limbs[i].go();
}
};

}
};
}
};
}
};
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the ULTIMATE GEEK
3 years ago
yeah i had the same problem in the handleDrag method there is another origin you have to change to
currentOrigin
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abhishek994sharma
4 years ago
what is wrong in my step 2-:

var leftArm2 = new Pendulum( leftArm1, limbLength);
var rightArm2 = new Pendulum(rightArm1, limbLength);
var leftLeg2 = new Pendulum(leftLeg1, limbLength);
var rightLeg2 = new Pendulum(rightLeg1, limbLength);
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Jared Thurber
4 years ago
Back in the display function, where it calls line, you have to change the first 2 parameters to
this.currentOrigin.x, this.currentOrigin.y, and back up a little bit more, you heve to change
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octoberX
2 years ago
In the next challenge:

I am not able to understand the concept of this code --
if( this.origin instanceof PVector){

}else{
}
Please Help !!
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Jim E
a year ago
Each pendulum (limb) have either a PVector as it's origin or another Pendulum. So we need to know if we just
use the origin which is a PVector, or the "parent" Pendulum.position (also a PVector).
For example see how left arm is created
Upper arm have a static PVector as it's origin:

var leftArm1 = new Pendulum(new PVector(width/2-50, 110), limbLength,
random(0,360));
Lower arm is attached to upperArm

var leftArm2 = new Pendulum(leftArm1, limbLength, random(0,360));
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mayazazoo
4 years ago
F=MA is really F(net)=MA, so why are we considering the net force to be the force of gravity, when the
tension force is also acting on the pendulum? Thanks :)
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Bob Lyon
4 years ago
This chapter tries to move quickly from forces to acceleration of the system due to gravity, and while the
sleight of hand is valid, it can be dissatisfying.
Consider the pendulum at rest. The force of gravity is equal to the opposite of the tension. So the net force is
zero, as is the acceleration. Nonetheless, the acceleration due to gravity can be defined asacceleration
= gravity * sin(theta) (also zero when theta is zero) which "magically" takes into account all the
forces. (After all, we know the *force*of gravity is constant on Planet Earth, and that the pendulum and the
planet know nothing about Trigonometry.) It is that tension that makes the bob move in an arc as opposed to
falling straight down.
I hope this helps, but I don't see why it would...

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Richard Bustamante
3 years ago
I can't figure out what the grader is looking for in Step 3 of the challenge. Anybody know? Here is my code:
var Pendulum = function(origin, armLength, aVelocity, startingAngle) {

this.angle = startingAngle;
this.aVelocity = aVelocity;
};
this.update();
this.display();
};
var gravity = 0.4;
// Increment angle
}
};
if (this.origin instanceof PVector) {
} else {
}

stroke(0, 0, 0);
strokeWeight(3);
line(this.currentOrigin.x, this.currentOrigin.y, this.position.x, this.position.y);

fill(224, 194, 134);
fill(143, 110, 44);
}
};

}
};
this.aVelocity = 0;
};

var diff = PVector.sub(this.currentOrigin, new PVector(mx, my));
}
};

var leftArm1 = new Pendulum(new PVector(width / 2 - 50, 110), limbLength, random(-0.05, 0.05), random(-
TWO_PI, TWO_PI));
var leftArm2 = new Pendulum(leftArm1, limbLength, random(-0.05, 0.05), random(-TWO_PI, TWO_PI));
var rightArm1 = new Pendulum(new PVector(width / 2 + 50, 110), limbLength, random(-0.05, 0.05), random(-
TWO_PI, TWO_PI));
var rightArm2 = new Pendulum(rightArm1, limbLength, random(-0.05, 0.05), random(-TWO_PI, TWO_PI));
var leftLeg1 = new Pendulum(new PVector(width / 2 + 40, 230), limbLength, random(-0.05, 0.05), random(-
TWO_PI, TWO_PI));
var leftLeg2 = new Pendulum(leftLeg1, limbLength, random(-0.05, 0.05), random(-TWO_PI, TWO_PI));
var rightLeg1 = new Pendulum(new PVector(width / 2 - 40, 230), limbLength, random(-0.05, 0.05), random(-
TWO_PI, TWO_PI));
var rightLeg2 = new Pendulum(rightLeg1, limbLength, random(-0.05, 0.05), random(-TWO_PI, TWO_PI));

leftArm1, leftArm2,
draw = function() {
background(255);
// Draw the body
strokeWeight(4);
line(width/2-50, 110, width/2+50, 110);
line(width/2-40, 230, width/2+40, 230);
fill(224, 194, 134);
rect(width/2-25, 39, 50, 64, 30);
for (var i = 0; i < limbs.length; i++) {
limbs[i].go();
}
};
}
};
}
};
}
};
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Bob Lyon
3 years ago
Their intent was to create still art until user action caused motion. Your program introduces motion from the
get go. revert back to a simpler constructor and wait for user mouse actions.
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Calculate The Acceleration of A Pendulum

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Calculate The Acceleration of A Pendulum

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calculate the acceleration of a pendulum

Trig and forces: the pendulum

Do you remember Newton’s laws of motion from a couple sections back?

Diagram of pendulum with angles

var Pendulum = function(origin, armLength) {

var limbLength = 75;

Pendulum.prototype.handleDrag = function(mx, my) {

var limbLength = 75;

var limbs = [leftLeg1, leftLeg2,

// Draw the body

if (this.origin instanceof PVector){

John Preston Cua

This is regarding Challenge: Pendulum puppet step two.

Any help/suggestion will be highly appreciated.

Regarding the Pendulum Puppet challenge:

var Pendulum = function(origin, armLength) {

Pendulum.prototype.handleClick = function(mx, my) {

var limbLength = 75;

var limbs = [leftLeg1, leftLeg2,

// Draw the body

for (var i = 0; i < limbs.length; i++){

for (var i = 0; i < limbs.length; i++){

the ULTIMATE GEEK

what is wrong in my step 2-:

In the next challenge:

if( this.origin instanceof PVector){

For example see how left arm is created

Upper arm have a static PVector as it's origin:

Lower arm is attached to upperArm

I hope this helps, but I don't see why it would...

var Pendulum = function(origin, armLength, aVelocity, startingAngle) {

this.position = new PVector(

line(this.currentOrigin.x, this.currentOrigin.y, this.position.x, this.position.y);

Pendulum.prototype.handleClick = function(mx, my) {

Pendulum.prototype.handleDrag = function(mx, my) {

var limbLength = 75;

var limbs = [leftLeg1, leftLeg2,

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