How stable do you think your world is? For many people the literal answer when they ponder on this question is “very stable”, usually due to the idea that we live on Earth where we know that our day-to-day lives are dictated by the constant and punctual rising and setting of our Sun. This preconceived notion is actually quite wrong, because when you calculate the position of the planets in our solar system while changing the distance between the Sun and Mercury the outcomes are shocking.
This experiment was actually conducted in 2009 where the outcomes ranged from Mercury becoming engulfed by the sun, Mercury running into Venus during its orbit, and in many cases a complete destabilization of the entire solar system including the displacement of multiple planets. The idea that the solar system and even the universe to an extent is delicate in terms of placement emerged from this experiment and has been leading inspiration for what is known as the Three Body Problem, or more commonly used by physicists as the N-Body Problem.
The N-Body Problem refers to the current problem within physics where it is impossible to determine the exact position of bodies when faced with a system that has three or more bodies. This is because the amount of variables then causing a discrepancy within the interaction of the gravitational fields of the bodies in question is simply to high to take into account.
The rule of thumb when dealing with the N-Body Problem is that for every unknown there must an equation that describes the variable independently, and this creates a mathematical boundary within Physics. This boundary will be further described in Part 2.