Pendulum with Counterweight
Pendulum with Counterweight
A rod is supported in the middle (which is taken as the origin) and can turn freely. On one end of the rod there is a pivot with a pendulum attached to a red bob swinging from it. At the other end of the rod is a blue counterweight.
Lagrangian mechanics is used to compute the equations of motion of the counterweight and the pendulum and to plot the trace of the pendulum bob.
A horizontal energy gauge shows the total energy of the system, which remains constant as the potential and kinetic energy magnitudes change in opposite directions.