full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Fabio Pacucci: Newton's three-body problem explained

Unscramble the Blue Letters


In 2009, two researchers ran a simple experiment. They took everything we know about our solar system and calculated where every planet would be up to 5 billion years in the future. To do so they ran over 2,000 numerical simulations with the same exact itiainl conditions except for one difference: the distance between Mercury and the Sun, modified by less than a millimeter from one simulation to the next. Shockingly, in about 1 percent of their slnuaimtois, Mercury’s obirt changed so dtlcslariay that it could plunge into the Sun or collide with vuens. Worse yet, in one simulation it destabilized the entire inner solar system. This was no error; the astonishing variety in results reelavs the tutrh that our solar system may be much less stable than it seems.

Open Cloze


In 2009, two researchers ran a simple experiment. They took everything we know about our solar system and calculated where every planet would be up to 5 billion years in the future. To do so they ran over 2,000 numerical simulations with the same exact _______ conditions except for one difference: the distance between Mercury and the Sun, modified by less than a millimeter from one simulation to the next. Shockingly, in about 1 percent of their ___________, Mercury’s _____ changed so ___________ that it could plunge into the Sun or collide with _____. Worse yet, in one simulation it destabilized the entire inner solar system. This was no error; the astonishing variety in results _______ the _____ that our solar system may be much less stable than it seems.

Solution


  1. initial
  2. truth
  3. reveals
  4. drastically
  5. orbit
  6. venus
  7. simulations

Original Text


In 2009, two researchers ran a simple experiment. They took everything we know about our solar system and calculated where every planet would be up to 5 billion years in the future. To do so they ran over 2,000 numerical simulations with the same exact initial conditions except for one difference: the distance between Mercury and the Sun, modified by less than a millimeter from one simulation to the next. Shockingly, in about 1 percent of their simulations, Mercury’s orbit changed so drastically that it could plunge into the Sun or collide with Venus. Worse yet, in one simulation it destabilized the entire inner solar system. This was no error; the astonishing variety in results reveals the truth that our solar system may be much less stable than it seems.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
solar system 3
unknown variables 3
general solution 2


Important Words


  1. astonishing
  2. billion
  3. calculated
  4. changed
  5. collide
  6. conditions
  7. destabilized
  8. distance
  9. drastically
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  12. experiment
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  14. initial
  15. mercury
  16. millimeter
  17. modified
  18. numerical
  19. orbit
  20. percent
  21. planet
  22. plunge
  23. ran
  24. researchers
  25. results
  26. reveals
  27. shockingly
  28. simple
  29. simulation
  30. simulations
  31. solar
  32. stable
  33. sun
  34. system
  35. truth
  36. variety
  37. venus
  38. worse
  39. years