Chaos and Fractals A Student Research Program Funded by the

How can a butterfly start a hurricane? Why does a snowflake grow in the shape it does? Why do populations of animals change in seemingly random ways? Or, for that matter, is the throw of a dice really random?

Some of the most interesting studies in modern science and mathematics have to do with things we cannot predict. The descriptions include words like chaos, randomness and fractals.The goal is to learn about the science and mathematics of chaos and how it operates in our world.

During the Fall of 1999, twenty high school students spent ten weeks investigating these concepts through laboratory measurements and computer simulation programs. This program was repeated in the Spring of 2001 using the NC Information Highway to allow several teams of one teacher and three students to participate in the program remotely.

Lab Activities : These are just a few of the activities performed by students in the Fall 1999 Chaos and Fractals Research Program
Fractional Dimension of Images Explore Patterns in Nature Create Lightning Bolts	Sierpinski Gasket

Student Projects: presented December 6, 1999 at The Science House
Chaotic Liquids
Sierpinski's Universe
The Hausdorf Dimension as Applied to Lightning
The Fractal Dimensionality of Household Products
Hele-Shaw Experiment (and its Relationships with Viscosity and Density)

Student Projects: presented April 3, 2001 over the NC Information Highway
The North Carolina Coastline Kinston High School
The Fractal Dimension of Various Mountain Ranges Kinston High School
Fractals in Music Riverside High School
Fractal Dimension and Evolution Alleghany High School
Spring 2001 Colloquy Home Page

Images on this site are used with permission from Fantastic Fractals - a ThinkQuest project