Chaotic dynamics of a bouncing coin

Abstract

We study the dynamics of a bouncing coin whose motion is restricted to the two-dimensional plane. Such coin model is equivalent to the system of two equal masses connected by a rigid rod, making elastic collisions with a flat boundary. We first describe the coin system as a point billiard with a scattering boundary. Then we analytically verify that the billiard map acting on the two disjoint sets produces a Smale horseshoe structure. We also prove that any random sequence of coin collisions can be realized by choosing an appropriate initial condition.