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Domino effect
 
 
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The domino effect is a chain reaction
Chain reaction

A chain reaction is a sequence of reactions where a reactive product or by-product causes additional reactions to take place. In a chain reaction, positive feedback leads to a self-amplifying chain of events....
 that occurs when a small change
Change

selfref|For Wikipedia uses, see...
 causes a similar change nearby, which then will cause another similar change, and so on in linear
Linear

The word linear comes from the Latin word linearis, which means created by lines.In mathematics, a linear map or function f is a function which satisfies the following two properties......
 sequence. The term is best known as a mechanical effect, and is used as an analogy
Analogy

Analogy is both the cognition process of transferring information from a particular subject to another particular subject , and a language expression corresponding to such a process....
 to a falling row of dominoes
Dominoes

Dominoes generally refers to the collective gaming pieces making up a domino set or to the subcategory of tile games played with domino pieces....
. It typically refers to a linked sequence of events where the time between successive events is relatively small. It can be used literally (an observed series of actual collisions) or metaphorically (complex systems such as global finance, or in politics, where linkage is only a hypothesis
Hypothesis

A hypothesis consists either of a suggested explanation for an observable phenomenon or of a reasoned proposal predicting a possible causal correlation among multiple phenomena....
).

classic demonstration involves setting up a chain of dominoes stood on end, and toppling the first domino.






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Encyclopedia


The domino effect is a chain reaction
Chain reaction

A chain reaction is a sequence of reactions where a reactive product or by-product causes additional reactions to take place. In a chain reaction, positive feedback leads to a self-amplifying chain of events....
 that occurs when a small change
Change

selfref|For Wikipedia uses, see...
 causes a similar change nearby, which then will cause another similar change, and so on in linear
Linear

The word linear comes from the Latin word linearis, which means created by lines.In mathematics, a linear map or function f is a function which satisfies the following two properties......
 sequence. The term is best known as a mechanical effect, and is used as an analogy
Analogy

Analogy is both the cognition process of transferring information from a particular subject to another particular subject , and a language expression corresponding to such a process....
 to a falling row of dominoes
Dominoes

Dominoes generally refers to the collective gaming pieces making up a domino set or to the subcategory of tile games played with domino pieces....
. It typically refers to a linked sequence of events where the time between successive events is relatively small. It can be used literally (an observed series of actual collisions) or metaphorically (complex systems such as global finance, or in politics, where linkage is only a hypothesis
Hypothesis

A hypothesis consists either of a suggested explanation for an observable phenomenon or of a reasoned proposal predicting a possible causal correlation among multiple phenomena....
).

Demonstrations of the effect

The classic demonstration involves setting up a chain of dominoes stood on end, and toppling the first domino. That domino topples the one next to it, and so on. In theory, however long the chain the dominoes will still fall. This is because the energy required to topple each domino is less than the energy transferred by each impact, so the chain is self-sustaining. Energy is stored by setting each domino in the metastable
Metastability

Metastability is a general scientific concept which describes states of delicate equilibrium. A system is in a metastable state when it is in equilibrium but is susceptible to fall into lower-energy states with only slight interaction....
 upright position, and that energy is what keeps the chain toppling.

There are many demonstrations of the effect involving more complex systems. Currently popular is the film on YouTube, where a chain of Diet Coke and Mentos eruptions is demonstrated. Although apparently complex and lacking the purity of a simple chain, this involves a simple physical linkage whereby each eruption triggers the next.

See also

Relevant physical theory:
  • Causality
    Causality

    Causality denotes a necessary relationship between one event and another event which is the direct consequence of the first.While this informal understanding suffices in everyday use, the Philosophy analysis of how best to characterize causality extends over millennia....
  • Chain reaction
    Chain reaction

    A chain reaction is a sequence of reactions where a reactive product or by-product causes additional reactions to take place. In a chain reaction, positive feedback leads to a self-amplifying chain of events....
  • Butterfly effect
    Butterfly effect

    The butterfly effect is a phrase that encapsulates the more technical notion of sensitive dependence on initial conditions in chaos theory....


Political theory
  • Domino theory
    Domino theory

    The domino theory was a foreign policy theory, promoted by the government of the United States, that speculated that if one land in a region came under the influence of communism, then the surrounding countries would follow in a domino effect....


Domino effect in fiction:
  • The Domino Effect, BBC Books novel
  • The Domino Effect, episode of these TV shows: Lockie Leonard, Sex and the City
    Sex and the City

    Sex and the City is an United States cable television series. The original run of the show was broadcast on HBO from 1998 until 2004, for a total of six seasons....
    , Doctor Who
    Doctor Who

    Doctor Who is a British Science fiction on television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a mysterious alien Time travel known as "Doctor " who travels in his space and time-ship, the TARDIS, which normally appears from the exterior to be a blue 1950s police box....
    .