Reading+Log+1

**Great** Your job will be to read the article and answer the questions given

Read the following text and answer the following questions:
 * __Reading Log 1__**

I. Pre-reading: a. What do you know about the chaos theory? It is like a branch of physics that studies the behavior of particles b. What do you think the text will be about? Maybe explain the different behaviors of the particles and why that occur c. Write a list of five words (minimum) that you think you can find in the text you will read. Now click on the following link, then check your previous responses. Once you finish, please answer the questions below the picture []
 * Chaos
 * Theory
 * Behavior
 * Particles
 * Systems
 * Study
 * Science.

Image taken on Sept 11th, 2008 from: []

II. Reading: 1. Read the text and check if you can find any of the words you wrote in your list (the one you wrote in the pre-reading, letter c.) Yes, some of them appear, like: theory, chaos, systems, behavior and science 2. Underline all the definitions you find in the text. 3. In the definitions: Mark the term being defined, the general class words and the characteristics of the terms. 4. Find the descriptions if any. The descriptions are in this color

__ Chaos Theory(term being defined), theory(general class word) describing the complex and unpredictable motion or dynamics of systems that are sensitive to their initial conditions (characteristics). __ Chaotic systems    are mathematically  deterministic    —that is, they follow precise laws, but their irregular behavior can appear to be random to the casual observer. Chaotic behavior is common in systems as varied as electric circuits, measles outbreaks, lasers, clashing gears, heart rhythms, electrical brain activity, circadian rhythms, fluids, animal populations, and chemical reactions. It is suspected that even economic systems, such as the stock exchange may be chaotic. The field of chaos is evolving rapidly from a theoretical to an applied science. The dynamic nature of the universe has led to a great deal of scientific research dedicated to analyzing change. Until recently, it was believed that if the dynamics of a system behaved unpredictably, it was due to random external influences. Therefore, scientists concluded that if random influences could be eliminated, then the behavior of all such deterministic systems could be predicted indefinitely. It is now known that many systems can exhibit long-term unpredictability even in the absence of random influences (characteristics). Such systems (general class word) are called chaotic (term to defined: chaotic system). Even very simple systems, such as a pendulum, exhibit chaos. The unpredictability of chaotic systems arises due to their sensitivity to their initial conditions, such as their initial position and velocity. Two identical chaotic systems set in motion with slightly different initial conditions can quickly exhibit motions that are quite different. French mathematician Henri Poincare concluded that he could not prove the solar system to be completely predictable. He was the first to state the defining feature of what later became known as chaos: “It may happen that small differences in the initial conditions produce very great ones in the final phenomena. A small error in the former will produce an enormous error in the latter. Prediction becomes impossible.…” The ramifications of Poincaré's discovery were not fully appreciated by most scientists until computers allowed them to easily model and visualize chaotic systems. Before then, however, pioneering scientists and engineers at National Aeronautics and Space Aministration the used Poincaré's work to send people and satellites into orbit. Edward Lorenz, an American meteorologist, discovered in the early 1960s that a simplified computer model of the weather demonstrated extreme sensitivity to the initial measured state of the weather. He demonstrated visually that there was structure in his chaotic weather model that, when plotted in three dimensions, fell onto a butterfly-shaped fractal set of points of a type now known as a strange attractor. Lorenz rediscovered chaos and proved that long-range forecasting of the weather was impossible. According to recent evidence, Poincaré's observations concerning the unpredictability of the solar system appear to be correct. Observations and computer simulations of the irregular tumbling motion of Hyperion, a potato-shaped moon of Saturn, have provided the first conclusive proof that objects in the solar system can behave chaotically. Recent computer simulations have also shown that the orbit of Pluto, the outermost planet of the solar system, is chaotic. Scientists are currently developing applications that use chaos. New chaos-aware control techniques are being used to stabilize lasers, manipulate chemical reactions, encode information, and change chaotic heart rhythms into healthy, regular heart rhythms. 5. Find what the following referents, underlined in the sentences below, refer to in the text. Be careful some items more contain more than one referent:

a. Chaos Theory, theory describing the complex and unpredictable motion or dynamics of __systems__ __**that**__ are sensitive to **__their initial conditions__** b. Until recently, it was believed that if the dynamics of a __system__ behaved unpredictably, **__it__** was due to random external influences c. “It may happen that small differences in the __ init __ __ i al conditions__ produce very great ones in the __final phenomena__. A small error in __**the former**__ will produce an enormous error in __ **the latter** __. Prediction becomes impossible.…” d.The ramifications of Poincaré's discovery were not fully appreciated by most __scientists__ until computers allowed **__them__** to easily model and visualize chaotic systems. e. He demonstrated visually that there was __structure__ in his chaotic weather model __ **that** __, __**when plotted**__ ...

6. What new aspects did you discover about the chaos theory? I discovered that the chaos theory can study the various systems, such as stable or unstable and in each one of them if you make changes in its initial phase, may occur a massive change in its final phase, but the most interesting thing was that we can see the chaos theory in our life, in the simple things of our life like our heart rhythms 7. Is the chaos theory related to real life aspects? Explain The text has examples of real life and the economy, or something more ancient than the economy,heart rhythm. The chaos theory examines the unpredictable behavior,but which is more unpredictable than the human behavior to any situation in his or her life?.

I believe that chaos theory is more related to real life than we think, maybe our life is a really chaos, maybe not, but who knows?. the answer is unpredictable.