the.com/perturbation
the tiny nudge that reveals whether a system is stable or secretly a house of cards.
means a small disturbance or change introduced into a system to see how it responds, or that just naturally throws it slightly off course.
from from latin perturbare, to thoroughly confuse or throw into disorder, from per (through, thoroughly) plus turbare (to disturb) from turba (crowd, commotion) — the same root that gives us turbulence.
orbital mechanicsplanets wobble because other planets tug on them.
quantum physicsperturbation theory solves unsolvable equations by approximating.
chaos theorya small enough one can still cause a hurricane.