The second chapter of this book is titled “The
Liberation of Matter”. As the title suggests, this chapter discusses the freeing
of matter from the deterministic Newtonian world view. The authors go into
detail about the chaos theory and explain the difference between chaotic and
non-chaotic systems. The laws of physics and laws of chance are tied together
by the chaos theory. Heisenburg’s uncertainty principle is also briefly
mentioned in this chapter.
Following
the formulation of the laws of mechanics, scientists worldwide accepted the
view of the Universe as a gigantic mechanism. In one case, Pierre Laplace, a nineteenth
century scientist, believed that at any instant in time, Newton’s laws could
explain the position of everything with extreme precision. Along with this
belief came the belief that true chance processes do not actually exist. For
example, the flipping of a coin is only viewed as a chance process because we
are not capable of viewing every factor affecting the result of the flip.
(above) Is the flipping of a coin a true chance process or can the result be determined by calculating every factor on the coin?
A non-chaotic system is
system in which a lack of input precision translates into a similar lack of
output precision. For example, if your initial information about the position
of an object falling is incorrect, your final velocity calculations will carry
a similar small error. A chaotic system is a system that amplifies input
errors. In contrast to a non-chaotic system, a chaotic system would make a lack
of input precision noticeable.
Although Newton’s laws
allow very precise measurements, they will not provide perfect results. This
can be explained by a number line. Fractions are not capable of labeling every
point on a number line, but irrational numbers are. Since irrational numbers
have an infinite amount of repeating numbers, they cause an unavoidable lack of
perfect precision. In a chaotic system, this input error would amplify the output
error. It would be impossible to mathematically calculate processes our
Universe to infinite precision. This concept may be used to back up Heisenburg’s
uncertainty principle, which states that everything we can observe or measure
is vulnerable to random fluctuations.
(above) A number line to help visualize how the act
of defining every point on the line is impossible.
Bibliography
Davies, Paul, and John Gribbin. The Matter Myth. New York: Orion Productions, 1992. Print
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