what exactly is the butterfly effect?

Question

not the movie

and is it real?

Answer 1

The Butterfly Effect is not a result of Lorenz. It comes from a science fiction story published in the 1950s.

The plot of the story is that there was a hotly contested political election in which a far right candidate was challenging a moderate candidate. The moderate candidate was winning. A time travel device was developed and was used to go back into the time of the dinosaurs. While back there someone stepped on a butterfly and killed it. When they returned to the future, the far right candidate had won the election and they were arrested.

The idea is that small events over long enough time accumulate to produce significant events in the future. This may be taken as part of chaos theory but the term predates chaos theory.

Answer 2

A concept from chaos theory applied to meteorology that describes the weather as being sensitive to initial conditions.


The "Butterfly Effect" is often ascribed to Lorenz. In a paper in 1963 given to the New York Academy of Sciences he remarks:

One meteorologist remarked that if the theory were correct, one flap of a seagull's wings would be enough to alter the course of the weather forever.
By the time of his talk at the December 1972 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, D.C. the sea gull had evolved into the more poetic butterfly - the title of his talk was* :
Predictability: Does the Flap of a Butterfly’s Wings in Brazil set off a Tornado in Texas?
Aloha

Answer 3

The movie was actually based on the theory, which is a theory that any small effect can in some way be a precursor or a catalyst to an even greater result. the theory says "the flap of a butterfly's wings can theoretically cause a hurricane on the other side of the world"

Answer 4

It is a choas theory that decribes the destrution of the universe if someone trys to change their past like dominoes being put in a line
and the first 1 being hit all of the of the rest fall it is a bit sketchy the theory goes like this if u change 1 thing in the past the future will cease to exist because it will change into something different.

Also some ....person thought that when a butterfly flaped its wing it would set off a tornado in texas.. i dont no where he got that idea.

Answer 5

Chaos. The idea that a butterfly fluttering it's wings in south america can lead to a blizzard in Europe.

Answer 6

base concept of chaos theory. it basical states that a simple flapping of the wings of a butterfly can trigger a ripple so large as to create a hurricane. think of it as throwing a pebble into a pond and the massive ripple it causes.

Answer 7

chaos

Answer 8

google it