VERSION|0.5.1|NAME|David Harper|DATE|1370595752|CONTENT|The &quot;butterfly effect&quot; was coined by a meteorologist named Edward Lorenz fifty years ago.  The May edition of Physics Today includes [url=http://www.physicstoday.org/resource/1/phtoad/v66/i5/p27_s1?bypassSSO=1]an excellent article[/url] on the subject.

It&#039;s a striking metaphor for the amplification of small changes to the initial conditions of a complex system, but it cannot be taken literally, as a moment&#039;s thought shows.  A butterfly flapping its wings affects the air within [b]at most[/b] a few centimetres.  The viscosity of the air prevents the fluid motion from propagating further than that.|IP-ADDRESS|172.20.128.250|MODERATIONFLAG|