The Nonlinear Pendulum

D.G. Simpson, Ph.D.

The Simple Plane Pendulum

A simple plane pendulum consists, ideally, of a point mass connected by a light rod of length L to a frictionless
pivot. The mass is displaced from its natural vertical position and released, after which it swings back and forth.
There are two major questions we would like to answer:
1. What is the angle  of the pendulum from the vertical at any time t?
2. What is the period of the motion?
For such a simple system, the simple plane pendulum has a surprisingly complicated solution. Well first
derive the differential equation of motion to be solved, then find both the approximate and exact solutions.

Differential Equation of Motion

To derive the differential equation of motion for the pendulum, we begin with Newtons second law in rotational
form:
 D I D I

d 2
;
dt 2

(1)

where  is the torque, I is the moment of inertia, is the angular acceleration, and  is the angle from the vertical.
In the case of the pendulum, the torque is given by
 D mgL sin ;

(2)

and the moment of inertia is

(3)

Substituting these expressions for  and I into Eq. (1), we get the second-order differential equation
mgL sin  D mL2

d 2
;
dt 2

(4)

which simplifies to give the differential equation of motion,

(5)

3
3.1

Approximate Solution
Equation of Motion

The easy way to solve Eq. (5) is to restrict the solution to cases where the angle  is small. In that case, we can
make the linear approximation
sin   ;

(6)

where  is measured in radians. In this case, Eq. (5) becomes the differential equation for a simple harmonic
oscillator,
d 2
g
D  :
dt 2
L

(7)

The solution to this differential equation is

(8)

as may be verified by direct substitution. Here 0 and are arbitrary constants that depend on the initial conditions.
The angle 0 is called the amplitude of the motion, and is the maximum displacement of the pendulum from the
vertical. The constant is called the phase constant, and represents where in its motion the pendulum is at time
t D 0.

3.2

Period

Eq. (8) implies that the angular frequency of the motion is ! D

g=L; since the period T D 2=!, we find the

(9)

Exact Solution

While the small-angle approximate solution to Eq. (5) is fairly straightforward, finding an exact solution for angles
that are not necessarily small is considerably more difficult. We wont go through the derivations herewell just
look at the results. Here well assume the amplitude of the motion 0 <  , so that the pendulum does not spin in
complete circles around the pivot, but simply oscillates back and forth.

4.1

Equation of Motion

When the amplitude 0 is not necessarily small, the angle  from the vertical at any time t is found to be

r

g
.t/ D 2 sin1 k sn
.t  t0 /I k :
L

(10)

where sn.xI k/ is a Jacobian elliptic function with modulus k D sin.0 =2/. The time t0 is a time at which the
pendulum is vertical ( D 0).

The Jacobian elliptic function is one of a number of so-called special functions that often appear in mathematical physics. In this case, the function sn.xI k/ is defined as a kind of inverse of an integral. Given the
function
Z y
dt
u.yI k/ D
p
;
(11)
2
.1  t /.1  k 2 t 2 /
0
the Jacobian elliptic function is defined as the inverse of u:
y D sn.uI k/:

(12)

Values of sn.xI k/ may be found in tables of functions or computed by specialized mathematical software libraries.

4.2

Period

Eq. (9) is really only an approximate expression for the period of a simple plane pendulum; the smaller the
amplitude of the motion, the better the approximation. An exact expression for the period is given by
s Z
L 1
dt
p
T D4
;
(13)
g 0
.1  t 2 /.1  k 2 t 2 /
which is a type of integral known as a complete elliptic integral of the first kind.
The integral in Eq. (13) cannot be evaluated in closed form, but it can be expanded into an infinite series. The
result is
s (
 )

1 
X
.2n  1/ 2
L
2n 0
sin
1C
(14)
T D 2
g
.2n/
2
nD1
s (

 )
1 
X
.2n/ 2
L
2n 0
D 2
sin
1C
(15)
g
22n .n/2
2
nD1
We can explicitly write out the first few terms of this series; the result is
s 
 
 
 
0
0
0
L
1
9
25
T D 2
1 C sin2
C
sin4
C
sin6
g
4
2
64
2
256
2
 
 
 
 
3969
53361
184041
1225
8 0
10 0
12 0
14 0
(16)
sin
C
sin
C
sin
C
sin
C
16384
2
65536
2
1048576
2
4194304
2
 
 
 

147744025
2133423721
41409225
16 0
18 0
20 0
sin
C
sin
C
sin
C :
C
1073741824
2
4294967296
2
68719476736
2
If we wish, we can write out a series expansion for the period in another formone which does not involve
the sine function, but only involves powers of the amplitude 0 . To do this, we expand sin.0 =2/ into a Taylor
series:
0
sin
2

1
X
.1/nC1 02n1
D
22n1 .2n  1/
nD1

(17)

0 03
5
07
09
011

C 0 
C

C
2
48
3840 645120 185794560 81749606400

(18)

p
Figure 1: Ratio of a pendulums true period T to its small-angle period T0 D L=g, as a function of amplitude
0 . For small amplitudes, this ratio is near 1; for larger amplitudes, the true period is longer than predicted by the
small-angle approximation.
Now substitute this series into the series of Eq. (14) and collect terms. The result is
s 
L
11 4
173 6
22931
1319183
1
1 C 02 C
 C
 C
8 C
 10
T D 2
g
16
3072 0
737280 0
1321205760 0
951268147200 0
233526463
2673857519
012 C
 14
2009078326886400
265928913086054400 0
39959591850371
8797116290975003
C
016 C
018
44931349155019751424000
109991942731488351485952000

4872532317019728133
20
C
 C :
668751011807449177034588160000 0
C

(19)

Plot of Period vs. Amplitude

p
Shown in Fig. 1 is a plot of the ratio of the pendulums true period T to its small-angle period T0 (T =.2 L=g/)
vs. amplitude 0 for values of the amplitude between 0 and 180 , using Eq. (15). As you can see, the ratio is 1
for small amplitudes (as expected), and increasingly deviates from 1 for large amplitudes. The true period will
always be longer than the small-angle period T0 .

References
1. L.P. Fulcher and B.F. Davis, Theoretical and experimental study of the motion of the simple pendulum,
Am. J. Phys., 44, 51 (1976).
2. R.A. Nelson and M.G. Olsson, The pendulumRich physics from a simple system, Am. J. Phys., 54,
112 (1986).
3. E.T. Whittaker, A Treatise on the Analytical Dynamics of Particles and Rigid Bodies (Cambridge, New
York, 1937), 4th ed., p. 73.
4. G.L. Baker and J.A. Blackburn, The Pendulum: A Case Study in Physics (Oxford, New York, 2005).