Stochastic resonance
Suppose you have a ball that can rest at the bottom of this well. It will rest in one of two places: left or right. Now suppose you gently start pushing on the ball, back and forth.
If you push hard enough, in synch with the natural motion of the ball, it will roll from one side to the other.
But suppose you don't push hard enough.
Then, add a bit of 'noise'. Add a little extra push, that varies in a random way. This will sometimes be enough to push the ball over the hill in the middle.
This is called stochastic resonance. It's a way that noise can amplify how a system responds to a signal. You can learn more and play around with stochastic resonance here:
http://johncarlosbaez.wordpress.com/2014/05/10/the-stochastic-resonance-program-part-1/
There's an explanation by David Tanzer and a link to a program that runs on your browser!
This is part of the Azimuth Code Project - a project to illustrate ideas from climate science using software that runs online, no installation necessary.
What does stochastic resonance have to do with climate science? And what does it have to do with how crayfish avoid predators? Read David's article for the answers.
Suppose you have a ball that can rest at the bottom of this well. It will rest in one of two places: left or right. Now suppose you gently start pushing on the ball, back and forth.
If you push hard enough, in synch with the natural motion of the ball, it will roll from one side to the other.
But suppose you don't push hard enough.
Then, add a bit of 'noise'. Add a little extra push, that varies in a random way. This will sometimes be enough to push the ball over the hill in the middle.
This is called stochastic resonance. It's a way that noise can amplify how a system responds to a signal. You can learn more and play around with stochastic resonance here:
http://johncarlosbaez.wordpress.com/2014/05/10/the-stochastic-resonance-program-part-1/
There's an explanation by David Tanzer and a link to a program that runs on your browser!
This is part of the Azimuth Code Project - a project to illustrate ideas from climate science using software that runs online, no installation necessary.
What does stochastic resonance have to do with climate science? And what does it have to do with how crayfish avoid predators? Read David's article for the answers.
