Whats the difference between the butterfly effect, the snowball effect, and the domino effect?

Question

Edit: ok you guys, thanks for everything and all the explanations. you helped me.

In: Other

Answer 1

* domino – one thing lets to another thing that leads to another thing
* snowball – a thing is put into motion, gets bigger and faster until it longer can be controlled
* butterfly – one thing has a subtle and unpredictable influence on another seemingly unrelated thing

The first to are pretty straightforward, but the butterfly effect is almost always misused. The idea comes from chaos theory, the notion a butterfly can flap its wings, and through the chaotic and unpredictable effect it has on the atmosphere, it can tip the balance between a hurricane halfway around the world from forming.

Unfortunately, most of the time “butterfly effect” means “shit happens so I am not responsible for this fuckup caused by my negligence.”