In article ,
John Larkin wrote:
[....]
But it's a wildly chaotic system.

I'm not sure what you mean by the "wildly" part of that. Are you saying
that it is somehow more chaotic than, lets say, a "hit and miss
regulation" DC-DC converter.


If I go outside and wash my car (an
unlikely event, admittedly) it's as likely to change the climate a
thousand years from now as building an extra hundred million SUVs.

This is a mischaracterization of a chaotic situation. A small input such
as washing your car *may* result in a large output but the odds are much
less than if the input is large.

If you want to fool with a chaotic system and have a few minute to spare
in the lab:

Get a slowish silicon diode such as a 1N400X and a high Q inductor in the
100uH to 1mH range.

Connect the two parts in series and attach them to a signal generator.

Connect a scope to the middle point of the series pair.

Tune the generator arount the point where the system resonates while
adjusting the amplitude and perhaps the offset.

You will see a spot where some very strange things happen.



If you have a lot of time:

Make a "hit and miss" regulator and observe its operation. They pop in
and out of chaos in funny ways.


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