Motion of a pendulum The equations of motions for a simple pendulum is given by ddot(theta)=-(g)/(l)sin( theta),where g is acceleration due to gravity and l is the length of the pendulum's string.

Layton Park

Layton Park

Answered question

2022-11-04

Motion of a pendulum
The equations of motions for a simple pendulum is given by
θ ¨   =   g sin ( θ ) ,
where g is acceleration due to gravity and is the length of the pendulum's string. Notice that the differential equation is of second order, does this mean that if I solve this equation numerically, the numbers that I get refers to the change in the velocity of the pendulum?

Answer & Explanation

Tasinazzokbc

Tasinazzokbc

Beginner2022-11-05Added 17 answers

This is really the same as Mark's answer but phrased in a different way. If you write your equation in Leibniz's notation it is:
d 2 θ d t 2 = g sin ( θ )
This makes it clearer that the solution is going to be the function θ ( t ) i.e. the angle as a function of time.
Juan Lowe

Juan Lowe

Beginner2022-11-06Added 5 answers

If you solve the equation for θ, whether numerically or otherwise, you will have θ, not or θ ¨ . You can get those by differentiating, of course, or you may find them as part of your numerical algorithm along the way. The fact that the equation is second order simply means you will need two initial conditions to find a solution.

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