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A magnetically controlled pendulum is used for observing free and forced oscillations, including nonlinear oscillations and chaotic motion. A data-acquisition system stores the data and displays time series of the oscillations and related phase plane plots, Poincaré maps, Fourier spectra and histograms. The decay constant of the pendulum can be modified by positive or negative feedback. The apparatus, except for the data-acquisition system, is extremely simple and low cost, and can be assembled in a short time. The wide possibilities of varying the parameters of the pendulum make the experiments suitable for student projects.

With a data-acquisition system and sensors commercially available, it is easy to determine magnetic fields produced by permanent magnets and to study the dipole-dipole interaction for different separations and angular positions of the magnets. For sufficiently large distances, the results confirm the 1/R 3 law for the magnetic field and the 1/R 4 law for the interaction force between two dipoles, as well as their angular dependences.

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