Lorenz’s Waterwheel

Lorenz's waterwheel

Let's say you have a waterwheel with a bucket with a small hole in the floor. When water drips from the faucet above, the bucket runs down and spins.
Then, let's predict which direction the waterwheel will turn.

It is easy to think that the waterwheel will turn in one direction anyway. But if you think about it a little, you'll see that it's not that simple.
The direction of rotation of the waterwheel changes depending on the amount of water coming out of the faucet.

1. When the amount of water is small, the waterwheel hardly moves.
2. As the amount of water increases, the waterwheel starts to spin slowly in either direction.
3. As the amount of water continues to increase, the waterwheel will spin faster, and the water in the bucket will reach the other side before it runs out crazy. Because of this, the rotational speed decreases again, and eventually, the direction of rotation changes. In this way, the direction of rotation changes regularly.
4. If you increase the quantity, even more the waterwheel's spinning becomes more and more complex and eventually starts to spin randomly. In other words, you reach a state of chaos.