The Three-Boby Problem!
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As a science fiction writer I find myself reading a whole lot of bizarre articles and this often forms the basis for my weekly social media posting. On Mondays I like to explore scientific concepts that I have come across!
What has been particularly popular recently is the Netflix show βThe Three-Body Problemβ, based upon the first book of the βRemembrance of Earthβs Pastβ trilogy by Liu Cixin. Does this sound familiar? Well, the title of his book is taken from an age old problem in βclassical mechanicsβ!
The three-body problem is where the momentum (position and speed) of three independent masses, that have their trajectories altered by this intertwined process, is calculated using Issac Newtonβs laws. It is widely accepted that, with the exceptions of certain special cases, the problem has no actual βclosed-form solutionβ. This ultimately means it is to chaotic to predict!
This problem is not just applicable to orbiting galactic bodies, it can be applied to many systems with three part interactions of this nature. For example, it has been observed in quantum physics with the βHeliumβ atom and how its constituent parts interact.
So what do you think? Could humanity, in the distant future, survive on a planet locked in orbit around a triple-star system, like in Liu Cixinβs book? These type of star systems do actually exist before anyone asks! π
As a science fiction writer I find myself reading a whole lot of bizarre articles and this often forms the basis for my weekly social media posting. On Mondays I like to explore scientific concepts that I have come across!
What has been particularly popular recently is the Netflix show βThe Three-Body Problemβ, based upon the first book of the βRemembrance of Earthβs Pastβ trilogy by Liu Cixin. Does this sound familiar? Well, the title of his book is taken from an age old problem in βclassical mechanicsβ!
The three-body problem is where the momentum (position and speed) of three independent masses, that have their trajectories altered by this intertwined process, is calculated using Issac Newtonβs laws. It is widely accepted that, with the exceptions of certain special cases, the problem has no actual βclosed-form solutionβ. This ultimately means it is to chaotic to predict!
This problem is not just applicable to orbiting galactic bodies, it can be applied to many systems with three part interactions of this nature. For example, it has been observed in quantum physics with the βHeliumβ atom and how its constituent parts interact.
So what do you think? Could humanity, in the distant future, survive on a planet locked in orbit around a triple-star system, like in Liu Cixinβs book? These type of star systems do actually exist before anyone asks! π
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