Computer simulation
hideA computer simulation, a computer model or a computational model is a computer program, or network of computers, that attempts to simulate an abstract model of a particular system. Computer simulations have become a useful part of mathematical modeling of many natural systems in physics (computational physics), chemistry and biology, human systems in economics, psychology, and social science and in the process of engineering new technology, to gain insight into the operation of those systems, or to observe their behavior.
Computer simulations vary from computer programs that run a few minutes, to network-based groups of computers running for hours, to ongoing simulations that run for days. The scale of events being simulated by computer simulations has far exceeded anything possible (or perhaps even imaginable) using the traditional paper-and-pencil mathematical modeling: over 10 years ago, a desert-battle simulation, of one force invading another, involved the modeling of 66,239 tanks, trucks and other vehicles on simulated terrain around Kuwait, using multiple supercomputers in the DoD High Performance Computer Modernization Program; a 1-billion-atom model of material deformation (2002); a 2.64-million-atom model of the complex maker of protein in all organisms, a ribosome, in 2005; and the Blue Brain project at EPFL (Switzerland), began in May 2005, to create the first computer simulation of the entire human brain, right down to the molecular level.
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News tagged with computer simulations
Climate change odds much worse than thought: New analysis shows warming could be double previous estimates
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
May 19, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The most comprehensive modeling yet carried out on the likelihood of how much hotter the Earth’s climate will get in this century shows that without rapid and massive action, the problem will ...
Scientists: No link cloud coverage and global warming
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
May 11, 2009 |
4.1 / 5 (89) |
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With the U.S. Congress beginning to consider regulations on greenhouse gases, a troubling hypothesis about how the sun may impact global warming is finally laid to rest.
Arctic at warmest levels in 2,000 years or more
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Sep 03, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (64) |
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Arctic temperatures in the 1990s reached their warmest level of any decade in at least 2,000 years, new research indicates. The study, which incorporates geologic records and computer simulations, provides ...
The Fall of the Maya: 'They Did it to Themselves'
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Oct 07, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (53) |
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For 1200 years, the Maya dominated Central America. At their peak around 900 A.D., Maya cities teemed with more than 2,000 people per square mile -- comparable to modern Los Angeles County. Even in rural areas ...
Star crust 10 billion times stronger than steel, physicists find
May 06, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Research by a theoretical physicist at Indiana University shows that the crusts of neutron stars are 10 billion times stronger than steel or any other of the earth's strongest metal alloys.
Swiss team unveil pioneering solar plane
Jun 26, 2009 |
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Round-the-world balloooning pioneer Bertrand Piccard unveiled his solar-powered aircraft in Switzerland on Friday, ready for another trend-setting circumnavigation of the globe powered solely by the sun.
Laser-plasma accelerators ride on Einstein's shoulders
Nov 02, 2009 |
5 / 5 (24) |
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Using Einstein's theory of special relativity to speedup computer simulations, scientists have designed laser-plasma accelerators with energies of 10 billion electron volts (GeV) and beyond. These systems, ...
Entropy alone creates complex crystals from simple shapes, study shows
Dec 09, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- In a study that elevates the role of entropy in creating order, research led by the University of Michigan shows that certain pyramid shapes can spontaneously organize into complex quasicrystals.
Computer simulation strengthens link between climate change and release of subsea methane
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Dec 17, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (24) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A first-of-its-kind computer simulation that mirrors real-world observations of methane bubbling up from a seabed in the Arctic Ocean provides further evidence that warming oceans may unleash ...
Intense heat killed the Universe's would-be galaxies, researchers say
Jul 01, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Our Milky Way galaxy only survived because it was already immersed in a large clump of dark matter which trapped gases inside it, scientists led by Durham University's Institute for Computational ...
The guiding of light: A new metamaterial device steers beams along complex pathways
Jul 31, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (18) |
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Using a composite metamaterial to deliver a complex set of instructions to a beam of light, Boston College physicists have created a device to guide electromagnetic waves around objects such as the corner ...
New understanding of the origin of galaxies
Jan 21, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (15) |
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A new theory as to how galaxies were formed in the Universe billions of years ago has been formulated by Hebrew University of Jerusalem cosmologists. The theory takes issue with the prevailing view on how ...
Mathematicians set world record in packing puzzle
Aug 12, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (15) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Finding the best way to pack the greatest quantity of a specifically shaped object into a confined space may sound simple, yet it consistently has led to deep mathematical concepts and practical ...
Scientists Observe Liquid Water Below Freezing
Jun 24, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (14) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Below 0 °C, water turns to ice. But beyond that, or below about -75 °C, the ice may turn back into liquid water. While scientists have previously predicted this phase transition with computer ...
Ancient Flying Pterosaur Also Sailed Seas (w/ Video)
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Oct 19, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (14) |
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- Tapejara was an excellent flyer that also had an innate nautical knowledge of sailing.
