"Chaos is aperiodic long-term behavior in a deterministic system that exhibits sensitive dependence on initial conditions." (Strogatz 323)

    For this experiment a damped physical pendulum was used to study chaotic effects.  This system has been studied extensively by other students.  Jim Nolen and Cabell Fisher have published their mathematical model of the system.  Rather than repeat this work, I concentrated on gathering Poincaré sections to support the assertion that a chaotic system has been produced.

    Data was taken using a Pasco interface.  Microsoft Excel was used to create all graphs for this data except Fourier transforms.  Fast Fourier Transforms were done using Microcal Origin.

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