Comments sciencegeek has made
quantum weather
To continue the previous post, trying to predict the pattern of a bunch of particles at any given moment is a pipe dream. But if you look at those particles over a long period of time, the average behavior is quite predictable.
Weather and climate are similar. Trying to figure out where all the clouds will be on Feb. 23rd, 2009 is nuts. However, predicting the average temperature for the whole month of February in a given location will not be off by very much, even though weather is chaotic.On 'Chaotic systems are not predictable'--Sure, but who says climate is chaotic? posted 1 year, 4 months ago 13 Responses
Heisenberg and chaos
All physical systems obey the laws of quantum mechanics. One of those laws, the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, states that it is impossible to know, even in principle, the exact speed and location of a particle. The minimum uncertainty is really really tiny, but has a big effect on small things.
A chaotic system is one that obeys exact laws, but is highly sensitive to initial conditions. Since Heisenberg says that exact specification of initial conditions is impossible, no chaotic system is 100% predictable.
Another law of quantum mechanics says that all movement is essentially random and is predictable only in terms of probability. Predicting the behavior of an individual particle is pretty much impossible. But when bazillions of them get together, you can use probability to predict the average behavior to amazing precision.On 'Chaotic systems are not predictable'--Sure, but who says climate is chaotic? posted 1 year, 4 months ago 13 Responses