Jun 27, 2018 08:55 PM
https://cosmosmagazine.com/physics/is-na...imagine-it
EXCERPT: In common usage, the word “chaos” means disorder, but is that so in physics? Not really. Chaos in physics stands for “unpredictable” and refers to physical systems that change their state over time.
A physical system is simply a slice of universe that we decide to consider as somehow separable from its surrounding environment. Sometimes we assume the collective effect of the system’s surroundings, but more often we prefer to assume that the system is isolated. Does true isolation exist? No: it’s artificial.
For example, a crystal is traditionally defined as a solid possessing an ordered structure that is infinitely periodic in the three spatial dimensions. [...] crystals, as they are found in nature, are not only of a finite size, but also possess many defects and are far from perfect. [...]
How can we predict the discontinuities and irregularities of a real structure if our model does not allow for defects? We cannot. The system we describe could therefore be labelled as “chaotic”, because it is unpredictable using those “perfect” rules.
We can thus conclude that the issue of chaos has nothing to do with reality, and a lot to with its human interpretation....
MORE: https://cosmosmagazine.com/physics/is-na...imagine-it
EXCERPT: In common usage, the word “chaos” means disorder, but is that so in physics? Not really. Chaos in physics stands for “unpredictable” and refers to physical systems that change their state over time.
A physical system is simply a slice of universe that we decide to consider as somehow separable from its surrounding environment. Sometimes we assume the collective effect of the system’s surroundings, but more often we prefer to assume that the system is isolated. Does true isolation exist? No: it’s artificial.
For example, a crystal is traditionally defined as a solid possessing an ordered structure that is infinitely periodic in the three spatial dimensions. [...] crystals, as they are found in nature, are not only of a finite size, but also possess many defects and are far from perfect. [...]
How can we predict the discontinuities and irregularities of a real structure if our model does not allow for defects? We cannot. The system we describe could therefore be labelled as “chaotic”, because it is unpredictable using those “perfect” rules.
We can thus conclude that the issue of chaos has nothing to do with reality, and a lot to with its human interpretation....
MORE: https://cosmosmagazine.com/physics/is-na...imagine-it