A damped simple pendulum of constant amplitude (Q799396)

The author treats the large amplitude plane motion of a simple pendulum with viscous damping proportional to the velocity of the bob and concentrates on the question whether it is possible to have a motion of the pendulum with constant amplitude despite the presence of damping. Obviously, if possible at all, this only can be achieved by varying the length of the string or the mass of the bob. By means of an exact solution of a nonlinear, nonautonomous second order differential equation it is shown that such a pendulum motion with constant amplitude is possible if a functional relation for the varying length, the varying mass and the damping constant is satisfied.