The world is strange and wonderful
Dec. 16th, 2004 12:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cosmolinguistScientists crochet chaos
"Imagine a leaf floating in a turbulent river and consider how it passes either to the left or to the right around a rock somewhere downstream. Those special leaves that end up clinging to the rock must have followed a very unique path in the water. Each stitch in the crochet pattern represents a single point [a leaf] that ends up at the rock."
Together, all the points (stitches) define a complicated surface, according to the Lorenz equations. The two academics have developed a method to describe such surfaces using a computer. After months of staring at animations on a screen, they suddenly realised that, in fact, their computations had naturally generated crochet instructions.
The final result consisted of 25,511 crochet stitches and took Dr Osinga about 85 hours to complete. It now hangs in their house as a Christmas decoration.
They insist it wasn't just done for fun. The pair say their work gives much-needed insight into how chaos arises and is organised in systems as diverse as chemical reactions, biological networks and even your kitchen mixer. Their crocheted model, called the Lorenz manifold, is a very helpful tool for understanding and explaining the dynamics of the Lorenz system.
If you would like to crochet your own Lorenz manifold in time for Christmas, the pattern and mounting instructions are available online at http://www.enm.bris.ac.uk/anm/preprints/2004r03.html
"Imagine a leaf floating in a turbulent river and consider how it passes either to the left or to the right around a rock somewhere downstream. Those special leaves that end up clinging to the rock must have followed a very unique path in the water. Each stitch in the crochet pattern represents a single point [a leaf] that ends up at the rock."
Together, all the points (stitches) define a complicated surface, according to the Lorenz equations. The two academics have developed a method to describe such surfaces using a computer. After months of staring at animations on a screen, they suddenly realised that, in fact, their computations had naturally generated crochet instructions.The final result consisted of 25,511 crochet stitches and took Dr Osinga about 85 hours to complete. It now hangs in their house as a Christmas decoration.
They insist it wasn't just done for fun. The pair say their work gives much-needed insight into how chaos arises and is organised in systems as diverse as chemical reactions, biological networks and even your kitchen mixer. Their crocheted model, called the Lorenz manifold, is a very helpful tool for understanding and explaining the dynamics of the Lorenz system.
If you would like to crochet your own Lorenz manifold in time for Christmas, the pattern and mounting instructions are available online at http://www.enm.bris.ac.uk/anm/preprints/2004r03.html
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