Posted on 01/04/2022 12:20:44 PM PST by Red Badger
A physics problem that has plagued science since the days of Isaac Newton is closer to being solved, say a pair of Israeli researchers. The duo used "the drunkard's walk" to calculate the outcome of a cosmic dance between three massive objects, or the so-called three-body problem.
For physicists, predicting the motion of two massive objects, like a pair of stars, is a piece of cake. But when a third object enters the picture, the problem becomes unsolvable. That's because when two massive objects get close to each other, their gravitational attraction influences the paths they take in a way that can be described by a simple mathematical formula. But adding a third object isn't so simple: Suddenly, the interactions between the three objects become chaotic. Instead of following a predictable path defined by a mathematical formula, the behavior of the three objects becomes sensitive to what scientists call "initial conditions" — that is, whatever speed and position they were in previously. Any slight difference in those initial conditions changes their future behavior drastically, and because there's always some uncertainty in what we know about those conditions, their behavior is impossible to calculate far out into the future. In one scenario, two of the objects might orbit each other closely while the third is flung into a wide orbit; in another, the third object might be ejected from the other two, never to return, and so on.
CLOSE In a paper published in the journal Physical Review X, scientists used the frustrating unpredictability of the three-body problem to their advantage.
"[The three-body problem] depends very, very sensitively on initial conditions, so essentially it means that the outcome is basically random," said Yonadav Barry Ginat, a doctoral student at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology who co-authored the paper
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
I thought this post was about me for a minute.
On my first day of college Physics, the Professor came in and asked for a show of hands of how many people in the class were going to continue their education in the field of Physics. Nobody raised their hands. He said since that was the case, he didn’t see the point in teaching us calculus-based physics and so he taught everything using algebra-based physics.
The best part was I had just aced a year of algebra-based physics for my Tech degree, so I got another year of the same for my accredited Bachelors degree.
“At this point they seem satisfied with probability rather than certainty. Seems inadequate, still.”
We live our life based on probabilities.
I thought that problem was already solved by the “Weebles and Wabble” equation of 1989.
5.56mm
The clue was there all along:
If a body meets a body meets a body, comin’ through the rye.
Not me. I am certain I'll enjoy Jesus eternally. I'm now in the Waiting Room....
“On my first day of college Physics, the Professor came in and asked for a show of hands of how many people in the class were going to continue their education in the field of Physics. Nobody raised their hands. He said since that was the case, he didn’t see the point in teaching us calculus-based physics and so he taught everything using algebra-based physics.
Why were you even in that class? It is only required for those pursuing advanced curriculums requiring the use of calculus.
I was pursuing my Civil Engineering Degree
“On my first day of college Physics, the Professor came in and asked for a show of hands of how many people in the class were going to continue their education in the field of Physics. Nobody raised their hands. He said since that was the case, he didn’t see the point in teaching us calculus-based physics and so he taught everything using algebra-based physics.”
Makes no sense. Why would he even ask if it was an advance physics class.
No non-physics or non-engineering major is going to sign up, much less a whole class.
General rule of thumb is that tighter tolerances/specifications incur higher costs to manufacture.
>> I don’t understand why he would say that.
Because, it was the "B" class or section of calculus. Most of the kids in that group don't really "get it" for long, if at all. They're tourists.
The French mathematician Vercingetorix solved this problem just before Julius Caesar invaded Gaul.
Menage’ a trois
Whereby one body (A) of the 3 bodies can only occupy one
body (B) at the same time the third body (C) is orbiting
the second body (B) ...Re-entry may be facilitated by
body (A) only if body (B) and body (C) remain
in synchronous orbits. Asynchronicity may occur at any
time body (A) separates from body (B) and enters the
gravitational field of body (C), thus causing immediate
collision of bodies (A) and (C). Such collisions may result
in spawning of new bodies, though only 1/4 mass of one of
the bodies (A), (B), or (C).
If one of the bodies is mine and the other two are attractive nubile females I’d have no difficulty solving this problem.
It would take repeated efforts and long term study, of course.
L
“If one of the bodies is mine and the other two are attractive nubile females I’d have no difficulty solving this problem.”
It’s a three body problem and you don’t know what their initial conditions are.
It was 3 semesters of 200 level classes for engineers, also known as a “weed out” course.
However the Professor determined that it was more important to teach at the practical level and not the theoretical level. The physics doesn’t change and instead of teaching how to use the calculus equation and derive them down to their algebraic form, it was more important to him that we understood physics.
“The physics doesn’t change and instead of teaching how to use the calculus equation and derive them down to their algebraic form, it was more important to him that we understood physics.”
A lot of physics cannot be understood or modeled without calculus. Basic calculations require calculus.
I can’t believe this ‘professor’.
This exactly describes me and my friends in mosh pits too.
“and you don’t know what their initial conditions are.”
You leave that to me, my friend.
LOL
L
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