can anyone explain me the butterfly effect?
In: Physics
Most people here have the wrong idea of what the butterfly effect really is. Sure, small actions can have huge consequences, but that’s not the point.
What it really is about is that tiny changes in the initial conditions of a system can result completely different outcomes.
This particularly true with chaotic turbulence and weather. When doing the calculations, just rounding up a single decimal point can sometimes lead to predictions completely different from the more precise calculations. That’s why weather is very unpredictable from more than 3 days out.
So, no, a butterfly cannot cause a hurricane, but it can potentially result in the hurricane landing in one place instead of the other.
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