PHY100H1 Chapter : Classical Mechanics 2
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Chaos is a state of a system in which the initial conditions strongly influence the routes followed by other objects in the system. The successful application of newton"s laws in determining the motion of the planets in the solar system led pierre simon de laplace (1749-1827) to conclude that the universe behaves in a deterministic manner. If we knew the masses of, forces on, and initial positions and velocities of every object, then we could predict their future trajectories or paths exactly. Although this is true in many situations, it is not always possible. Henri poincare (1854-1912) calculated the evolution of three bodies interacting via. Newton"s law of gravitation and found that some configurations were highly unstable. It was possible under certain conditions for one of the objects to be ejected from the system. Poincare discovered an example of what is now called chaos.