What is the 3 Body Problem in physics? Is there a solution to it?

1.15K viewsOtherPhysics

I recently finished watching the 3 Body Problem on Netflix so this question came to mind. Can anyone explain (in simple terms) why the 3 body problem was deemed unsolvable even by the advanced alien race in the series? Even better, can anyone here simplify what the 3 Body Problem actually is in Physics? It really got my curiosity. Thanks! 🙂

In: Physics

24 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Lot of comments here could be simplified into stating that you cannot measure with infinite precision. That’s really the “problem” of the N body problem. You need measurements to calculate where the bodies are in the future. There is no such thing as infinite precision so you can never accurately project the positions of N bodies beyond some future time. It’s not much different than predicting the weather.

You are viewing 1 out of 24 answers, click here to view all answers.