Reading+Log+1

**Good Job** **3,5** Read the following text and answer the following questions: a. What do you know about the chaos theory? b. What do you think the text will be about? c. Write a list of five words (minimum) that you think you can find in the text you will read. ****Good** Now click on the following link, then check your previous responses. Once you finish, please answer the questions below the picture http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761571605/Chaos_Theory.html   ** 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.) 2. ** __Underline__ ** all the definitions you find in the text.
 * __Reading Log 1__ **
 * I. **** Pre-reading: **
 * I do not know much about the Chaos Theory. I know than little changes can generate large consequences or events in a system. **
 * I think than the text will be about the Chaos Theory. I believe ** **I** ** will find a definition, a description and examples about the topic. **
 * Mathematical, chaos, system, theory, chaotic, butterfly, effect and consequence.
 * The words than I found are chaos, system, theory, chaotic and butterfly. **

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. ** __Chaos Theory (__ ** ** __term being defined__ ** ** __)__ ** ** __, theory ( general class words ) describing the complex and unpredictable motion or dynamics of systems that are sensitive to their initial conditions ( characteristics of the terms ). __ **  **Super** ** Chaotic systems are mathematically deterministic—that is, they follow precise laws, but their irregular behavior can appear to be random to the casual observer (description of chaotic systems). ** 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 (chasracteristics of the terms). Such systems (general class words) are called chaotic (chaotic system is the term defined __**  **__ ) __** **Super** **__ .__** Even very simple systems, such as a pendulum, exhibit chaos. 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 the National Aeronautics and Space Administration   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 (see Meteorology ). 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. 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:
 * 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 ** **(description of chaotic systems)** French mathematician  Henri Poincaré 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.…”

a. Chaos Theory, theory describing the complex and unpredictable motion or dynamics of systems  ** __that__ ** are sensitive to  ** __their initial conditions__ ** **Good** b. Until recently, it was believed that if the dynamics of a system behaved unpredictably, ** __it__ ** was due to random external influences ** Behaved unpredictably (it). ** c. “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 initial conditions (the former). ** 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. ** Scientists (them). ** e. He demonstrated visually that there was structure in his chaotic weather model  ** __that__ **,  ** __when plotted__ ** ...   **Super** 6. What new aspects did you discover about the chaos theory? 7. Is the chaos theory related to real life aspects? Explain ** Well, I do not know if the Chaos Theory is true for l. For example, I found at http://www.crossgroup.caltech.edu/chaos_new/Lorenz.html, than “One meteorologist remarked that if the theory were correct, one flap of a seagull's wings would be enough to alter the course of the weather forever”. Personally, I can not to ensure this. **
 * Systems ( ** their initial conditions).
 * The final phenomena (the latter). **
 * Structure (that). **
 * The chaotic weather model (when plotted). **
 * I discovered than the initial conditions can influence greatly in the results final. If the initial conditions of two similar systems are little different, then both systems in its final stage will have great differences. **
 * Yes, the Chaos Theory is related to real life aspects. The text __have__ **  **has** ** examples of real life. I will give several examples too. In chemistry a drop of a substance could be the difference, it will determine the __product final__ **  **final product** ** . If we throw a missile and we give erroneous coordinates, then ** **for** ** sure, __it__ ** **there** ** will be a disaster. **