Chaotic Bouncing Ball
Chris Evans∗
California State University, Chico
(Dated: November 9, 2010)
A ball on an oscillating table has been shown to display chaotic behavior for particular frequency
and amplitudes. A circuit was constructed as an analog to the bouncing ball, and the behavior was
analysed over various amplitudes. Chaotic behavior was detected, and interesting Poincare plots
were produced.
FIG. 1. A bouncing ball on an oscillating table produces
chaotic effects
INTRODUCTION
A bouncing ball is a very intuitive system. Essentially,
a ball is placed on a table, of which is allowed to oscillate
at some set frequency. At particularly low frequencies,
the ball remains fixed on the table and it’s position is
that of the table for all points in time. However, as the
frequency of the table increases, the ball begins to leave
the table and bouncing is observed.
By setting the frequency, and changing the amplitude
of the table, the same pattern is seen. At some amplitude,
the ball will leave the table and begin bouncing. There
are however, several interesting ranges of the amplitude
where the ball goes from a deterministic system, to an
aperiodic system: chaos is acheived.
By observing the position of the ball over large ranges
of amplitude, several phase space diagrams can be made.
From these it is very easy to see whether or not the sys-
tem is undergoing chaos. Over a larger range, a Poincare
Plot can be produced which can show the ranges over
which bifurcation occurs.
EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS
Instead of actually setting up a ball and an oscillating
table, as Vargas did using a speaker as the oscillating
table[1], a circuit involving two integrating opamps were
used. A sinusoidal signal is sent into the circuit and goes
through the first integrating opamp. This outputs a ve-
locity. That velocity signal is then put into the second
opamp which produces the position signal.
The position signal now is plugged into an Elvis II
prototyping board, where Labview is programmed to take
data at a frequency of 500 MHz. Labview also controls
the frequency as well as the amplitude of the input signal.
The sync of the Elvis frequency generator is used as a
trigger for the data aquisition so the position is read at
a very specific point of the tables oscillation.
After several samples have been taken at a particu-
lar amplitude, Labview modulates the amplitude of the
input signal, effectivly increasing the amplitude of the
table. This is repeatedly done over a large range of am-
plitudes.
During the procedure, the frequency is kept at a con-
stant. It is important to keep in mind, that the frequency
of the signal must be much lower than the sampling fre-
quency. If the input signal’s frequency is too high, the
Elvis will not be able to collect data at the same spot
every time. Because of this limitation, the frequency was
kept between 100 and 200 Hz. With the sampling rate
at 500 MHz, the Elvis will have no trouble taking several
points at the desired location.
DATA
CONCLUSION
FURTHER WORK
Thanks for things!
∗
cevans11@mail.csuchico.edu
[1] D. A. H. M. Cristina Vargas and V. Sosa.
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[2] “Official gnuplot documentation,” Inter-

net Documentation (November 2009),
http://www.gnuplot.info/documentation.html.