The Problem That Broke Physics (And Led to Chaos) | What the Physics?!
Can a butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil lead to a tornado in Texas? Probably not, but the idea points to a real principle in physics: small changes can have huge, unpredictable effects.
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@pazize
May 25, 2026 at 8:34 pm
Funny the weather is unknowable 10 days in the future, but climate change is certain.
@citizen_of_earth_
May 25, 2026 at 8:34 pm
Chaos is not the opposite of order. Both chaos and order are emergent properties of systems attempting to navigate incomplete representations of constrained reality.
@RootCause_TV-h5e
May 25, 2026 at 8:34 pm
We live in an unpredictable and yet predictable world
@fredcurry914
May 25, 2026 at 8:34 pm
Sounds like the ability to predict the unpredictable is unpredictable. I feel much better now.
@DSL9136
May 25, 2026 at 8:34 pm
That’s not exactly the three body problem. You used three stable bodies as an example of the three body problem.
@_andrewvia
May 25, 2026 at 8:34 pm
Please say "new – ton" instead of "new – 'en."
@douglasstrother6584
May 25, 2026 at 8:34 pm
I was doing noise analysis for a receiver design a couple of years ago which got me "into the weeds" of noise physics.
"Fundamentals of Statistical and Thermal Physics" by Fredrick Reif and "Statistical Physics" by George Wannier both conclude with interesting discussions of Noise, Brownian Motion, Fluctuations and Irreversibility. "Noise and Fluctuations" by D.K.C. MacDonald does a deep dive into the topic; the book has a very conversational tone. "Selected Papers on Noise and Stochastic Processes" edited by Nelson Wax contains seminal papers; these is rather meaty. (You're gonna need another box of pencils.)
"Investigations on the Theory of Brownian Movement" by Einstein is a great little read.
Einstein's contributions to Physics on the microscopic scale surpass those on the macroscopic scale: Brownian Motion, and the Photoelectric Effect substantiated the atomic theory of matter and discrete interaction between radiation and matter.
Irreversibility is realm containing many misunderstandings and unanswered questions. One can only speculate on the development of Physics if Maxwell (48), Boltzmann (62) and Ehrenfest (53) had lived longer.
@douglasstrother6584
May 25, 2026 at 8:34 pm
Learning about non-linear oscillators, chaos and all that in Junior-level Classical Mechanics course put the "WOW!" back into Physics for me. Thanks, Professor Peter Scott (1933-2024), UC Santa Cruz (1983)! We studied the Düffing Oscillator and he had a real demo of it as well. The Logistic Map was another goodie he encouraged us to play with on a computer.
We covered perturbation theory in the context of non-linear oscillators and the 3-body central force problem; it's fascinating how complexity arises when you "tweak things just a bit".
Physics Honchos like Poincaré worked on non-linear mechanics in the early 1900's; he and others showed that "these are really hard problems". Little more was done up to Edward Lorenz's modeling of weather in 1963, with the arrival of digital computers.
Non-linear systems are covered in "Nonlinear Oscillations" Ch.5 of "Classical Dynamics" (2nd ed.) by Jerry Marion, and in "Canonical Perturbation Theory" Ch.11 of "Classical Mechanics" (2nd ed.) by Herbert Goldstein.
"Chaos: Making a New Science" by James Gleick is still a great read.
@JamnGeorge
May 25, 2026 at 8:34 pm
It was Mexican jumping beans that caused the earthquake in Peru. Yes?
@nemoxero
May 25, 2026 at 8:34 pm
Humans are the entropic component ?
@JoeDeglman
May 25, 2026 at 8:34 pm
Newton admitted that he had no idea what caused gravity.
Einstein dug "Newtonian Gravity" out of the trash bin of failed ideas, for his failed version known as General Relativity.
Today they use the solar and lunar cycles and the electromagnetic medium propagated from the Sun to predict the long term weather.
@LucienLevesque
May 25, 2026 at 8:34 pm
I believe that the vibrations that we give off and our mood that we exude can have a butterfly effect. I have found on numerous occasions that my vibrations and mood has drastically affected the weather around me, and although I do not have any evidence beyond seeing it happen, it happens all the same. For example, I got extremely angry once when I was dealing with a customer service rep over the phone. Before talking with them it was a sunny day and blue sky as far as the eye could see. After basically tearing into the customer service rep with my anger and frustration and deep powerful voice with a passion that some describe as "scary", within 5 minutes storm clouds were everywhere and lightning was coming down all around and it all happened in 5 minutes from sunny and blue sky 5 minutes before… I felt like I was Zeus myself and my anger was changing my environment around me very fast. Another time it was forecasted to be a cloudy day all day. I was with another guy and I told him that I would play my song on the piano and that after 35 minutes I would bring the sun out to shine. There were clouds everywhere as far as the eye could see, but after playing my song on the piano for 35 minutes, Lo and Behold, the sun emerged and shone right on me! Oddly enough, I have played this song on a piano and the weather shifts towards more pleasant weather consistently when I play this song. The song is called 5th dimension, and I made a video where I perform the song, link is here. https://youtu.be/vsKLlxGfLSE I have made another video as well where I talk about the different kinds of intelligence beyond the standard IQ. I find that it is vibrations that are the 6th sense that as beings we are able to have a feeling for that does not use the other 5 senses. I talk about it in my video where I discuss the different kinds of intelligence, link to this video here, and I talk about vibrational intelligence towards the end of the video. https://youtu.be/foTEPgGPl9A
@jptrainor
May 25, 2026 at 8:34 pm
The Lyapunov Exponent estimates the rate of divergence of solutions with small differences in initial conditions. In the case of a weather forecast, the forecast is initially accurate and gets more inaccurate into the future. The rate of divergence described by the Lyapunov Exponent.
@Kamikaze3557
May 25, 2026 at 8:34 pm
Crazy, not content but the movement of the lady and the lip movement, sense something is very suspicious I’m reporting , looking too AI and not reported as such.
@CODE3p141
May 25, 2026 at 8:34 pm
Why doesn't anybody ever talk about the butterfly effect when it stops storms, hurricanes, or tornadoes?
@cadillacslick
May 25, 2026 at 8:34 pm
…then explain the seemingly accurate pre-weather forecasts of the Farmers Almanac.
@marksusskind1260
May 25, 2026 at 8:34 pm
The chaotician says life finds a way.
@GregBalla-v8n
May 25, 2026 at 8:34 pm
Movement is mathematical, so predicting future path can be figured out, ergo find the future using math.
@mark.J6708
May 25, 2026 at 8:34 pm
Chaos, synchronicity, simplicity
@PeterH-v7w
May 25, 2026 at 8:34 pm
Howard Terrance has solved the 2 body problem just ask him he know everything
@c.a.t.732
May 25, 2026 at 8:34 pm
So… I'd still like to know if a butterfly flapping it's wings somewhere can cause a tornado somewhere else, and if so how. That always seemed pretty far fetched to me.
@patrickinsocal
May 25, 2026 at 8:34 pm
A super cute 60s-style hippie chick riffing on complex physics theory . . . thanks PBS! 😎
@threadripper979
May 25, 2026 at 8:34 pm
I stopped at "climate change." You can't say that weather prediction becomes guesswork at 10 days, yet believe that "climate change" even exists. Your "science" is flawed. But the teacher is hot.
@mikeybajan
May 25, 2026 at 8:34 pm
I’ve always believed that EVERYTHING you do has an affect on everything in the world. Think about every time you drive your car. You’re responsible for someone a few cars back stopping at a red light. They might then be involved in an accident. Or an accident might have happened if you didn’t drive that day. Now think of all consequences of you having an accident. Family might travel to visit you, now they’ve taken up a seat that someone else would have booked. The possibilities are endless! And this is my brain 24/7!! How do I turn it off?!? 😂
@kadirer690
May 25, 2026 at 8:34 pm
something so distracting in this video, i just can't point out what
@karmakazi219
May 25, 2026 at 8:34 pm
You lost me at "Isaac Nu'in". 0:34