Wave — pendulum wave demo

Wave is the famous "pendulum wave" classroom demo. Fifteen pendulums of slightly different lengths swing in parallel. Started together, they drift apart into beautiful wave patterns, snake-like and spiraling, and eventually realign — over and over.

How to play

Click Release (or the canvas) to start them all from the same starting angle. Drag horizontally to push them all to one side. Adjust BOBS for a denser or sparser wave. Freeze stops all motion to admire a frame.

Why it's satisfying

The pendulum wave is a classic physics demo because it's pure beauty made of pure simplicity: each pendulum follows its own period, but the collective interference paints emergent waves. After about 60 seconds they all sync back up — and then the cycle starts again.

About

Wave is part of Alcy, free contemplative micro-games. For more physics: Pendulum, Orbit, Loop Maker.