A simple experiment for studying the transition from order to chaos
Holger Meißner, Gerd Schmidt · American Journal of Physics · 1986
A simple experiment is described for the observation of transition from order to chaos in a near Hamiltonian and a strongly dissipative system. The system is a compass needle moving in an oscillating magnetic field. As the field amplitude is increased, period doubling is observed following the Feigenbaum scenario. New modes are also created by tangent bifurcations. The motion in the dissipative case appears to terminate in strange attractor-type chaotic motion.