Rotating Hoop Pitchfork

Turn centrifugal balance into a physical pitchfork bifurcation.

Experiment

Use the interactive module to explore the bifurcation:

1. Open the Rotating Hoop Pitchfork module.
2. Set the Rotation ratio r to 0.5 and observe that the bottom state is a "Stable minimum".
3. Increase the Rotation ratio r to 1.5 and watch as the stable branches emerge, and the bottom state becomes an "Unstable maximum".