カオスの世界／A World of Chaos

DENJIRO: Today, I’d like to talk about chaos. Chaos plays an important role in the world of science too. Let me perform an experiment to show you scientific chaos. This here is a pendulum. There’s a bearing at the base. This allows for less friction, and the pendulum is able to move freely. This pendulum is called a double pendulum. Now, let me bring the pendulum up to the mark and let it fall. GIRL: It’s moving in a weird way! DENJIRO: It’s moving in an interesting and unpredictable manner. Now, I’ve changed the LED light to a different color. Let me let it fall from the same place. Although I dropped the pendulum from the same place, it’s moving differently. NARRATOR: This phenomenon is known as “chaos.” DENJIRO: It’s a mysterious phenomenon, but it’s actually moving in a systematic manner. Therefore, we can recreate the movement with a computer. First, we stack the pendulums on top of each other and let them fall from the same position. You can see that they’re moving in the exact same manner. Now, let’s move the starting position of one of the pendulums just slightly, by 0.0000001 degrees. The two pendulums end up moving differently. By moving one of the pendulums just slightly, the small difference becomes a big difference as the pendulums swing. A phenomenon like this where a small difference becomes a big difference is known as “chaos.” In a real-life experiment, it’s impossible to swing two pendulums under the exact same conditions. That’s why we get chaos. NARRATOR: In our daily lives, we see chaos in the weather. A slight difference in weather conditions can greatly affect the coming weather. Therefore, weather forecasts, especially long-term forecasts, are especially difficult. DENJIRO: I hope energy will bring you all happiness. Our magic word is "Happy Energy!"