--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The equations of dynamics completely…" description: "\"The equations of dynamics completely express the laws of the historical method as applied to matter, but the application of these equations implies a p..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/41f/james-clerk-maxwell-10636_chance-and-change_the-equations-of-dynamics-completely-exp_2015854.jpg" --- # The equations of dynamics completely express the laws of… ![“The equations of dynamics completely express the laws of the historical method as applied to matter, but the application of these equations implies a perfect knowledge of all the data. But the smallest portion of matter which we can subject to experiment consists of millions of molecules, not one…” quote by James Clerk Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/41f/james-clerk-maxwell-10636_chance-and-change_the-equations-of-dynamics-completely-exp_2015854.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/41f/james-clerk-maxwell-10636_chance-and-change_the-equations-of-dynamics-completely-exp_2015854.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/41f/james-clerk-maxwell-10636_chance-and-change_the-equations-of-dynamics-completely-exp_2015854.jpg) > “The equations of dynamics completely express the laws of the historical method as applied to matter, but the application of these equations implies a perfect knowledge of all the data. But the smallest portion of matter which we can subject to experiment consists of millions of molecules, not one of which ever becomes individually sensible to us. We cannot, therefore, ascertain the actual motion of anyone of these molecules; so that we are obliged to abandon the strict historical method, and to adopt the statistical method of dealing with large groups of molecules ... Thus molecular science teaches us that our experiments can never give us anything more than statistical information, and that no law derived from them can pretend to absolute precision. But when we pass from the contemplation of our experiments to that of the molecules themselves, we leave a world of chance and change, and enter a region where everything is certain and immutable.” [James Clerk Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-clerk-maxwell/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote highlights limits of deterministic physics and the necessity of statistical methods because we cannot track individual molecules. **In simple terms:** We can’t know every molecule, so we use statistics. Key Takeaway Accept uncertainty; use statistical models. Themes physics philosophy methodology Mood thoughtful analytical Type scientific philosophical When to use this quote - laboratory research - climate modeling - financial risk assessment - public health epidemiology Key Concepts determinism statistical mechanics epistemology Questions to Reflect On - How do we balance precision and uncertainty? - When is statistical inference insufficient? A Different Perspective Statistical methods still rely on assumptions that may be flawed. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Chance and change](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chance-and-change-29586/) [Experiments Molecules](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/experiments-molecules-3624304/) [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [Matter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/matter/) [Millions Molecules](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/millions-molecules-3624306/) [Molecules Individually](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/molecules-individually-3624305/) [Motion Molecules](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/motion-molecules-1057822/) [Theory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/theory/) ## Related quotes > [“As we showed in figure 5, water molecules oscillate about their rest positions in ice. Quantum mechanics says that this remains true at absolute…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henning-genz/as-we-showed-in-figure-5-water-molecules-oscillate-about-their-rest/) [Henning Genz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henning-genz/) > [Fate,Time,Occasion,Chance, and Change? To these All things are subject but eternal love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/percy-bysshe-shelley/fate-time-occasion-chance-and-change-to-these-all-things-are-subject/) [Percy Bysshe Shelley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/percy-bysshe-shelley/) > [“...believing in the magic of life, the power of hope, the cosmic sanity of chance and change, and the unmistakable power of love.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kris-radish/believing-in-the-magic-of-life-the-power-of-hope-the-cosmic-sanity-of/) [Kris Radish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kris-radish/) > [The 3 C's of Life: Choices, Chances and Changes.You must make a choice to take a chance or you will never change.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zig-ziglar/the-3-c-s-of-life-choices-chances-and-changes-you-must-make-a-choice/) [Zig Ziglar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zig-ziglar/) > [We don't go to the ocean for anything as simple as happiness, do we? We go there to feel alive. Like life, the ocean…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eileen-wilks/we-don-t-go-to-the-ocean-for-anything-as-simple-as-happiness-do-we-we/) [Eileen Wilks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eileen-wilks/) > [Chance and change are busy ever;Man decays, and ages move;But His mercy waneth never;God is wisdom, God is love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-bowring/chance-and-change-are-busy-ever-man-decays-and-ages-move-but-his/) [John Bowring](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-bowring/) > [Life is full of chances and changes, and the most prosperous of men may in the evening of his days meet with great misfortunes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/life-is-full-of-chances-and-changes-and-the-most-prosperous-of-men/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [Do we, holding that the gods exist, deceive ourselves with insubstantial dreams and lies, while random careless chance and change alone control the world?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/euripides/do-we-holding-that-the-gods-exist-deceive-ourselves-with/) [Euripides](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/euripides/) > [In this world of chance and change and mutability, the fulfillment of any resolve depends on the will of the Lord.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vinoba-bhave/in-this-world-of-chance-and-change-and-mutability-the-fulfillment-of/) [Vinoba Bhave](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vinoba-bhave/) > [“Quantum Technology Is No Longer Theoretical The quantum revolution is not the discovery of quantum physics. It is the transition from understanding quantum reality…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ludmila-morozova-buss/quantum-technology-is-no-longer-theoretical-the-quantum-revolution-is/) [Ludmila Morozova-Buss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ludmila-morozova-buss/) > [“The generalized theory of relativity has furnished still more remarkable results. This considers not only uniform but also accelerated motion. In particular, it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-a-michelson/the-generalized-theory-of-relativity-has-furnished-still-more/) [A.A. 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But now the fluctuations are not just particles coming into and out of existence, which happens all the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-degrasse-tyson/quantum-physics-fluctuates-all-the-time-but-now-the-fluctuations-are/) [Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-degrasse-tyson/) > [True works of art contain their own theory and give us the measurement according to which we should judge them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/true-works-of-art-contain-their-own-theory-and-give-us-the/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) ## More by James Clerk Maxwell > [This characteristic of modern experimentsthat they consist principally of measurements, is so prominent, that the opinion seems to have got abroad, that in a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-clerk-maxwell/this-characteristic-of-modern-experimentsthat-they-consist/) [James Clerk 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Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-clerk-maxwell/) > [One of the chief peculiarities of this treatise is the doctrine that the true electric current, on which the electromagnetic phenomena depend, is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-clerk-maxwell/one-of-the-chief-peculiarities-of-this-treatise-is-the-doctrine-that/) [James Clerk Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-clerk-maxwell/) > [The dimmed outlines of phenomenal things all merge into one another unless we put on the focusing-glass of theory, and screw it up sometimes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-clerk-maxwell/the-dimmed-outlines-of-phenomenal-things-all-merge-into-one-another/) [James Clerk Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-clerk-maxwell/) > [All the mathematical sciences are founded on relations between physical laws and laws of numbers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-clerk-maxwell/all-the-mathematical-sciences-are-founded-on-relations-between/) [James Clerk Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-clerk-maxwell/) > [Thoroughly conscious ignorance is the prelude to every real advance in science.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-clerk-maxwell/thoroughly-conscious-ignorance-is-the-prelude-to-every-real-advance/) [James Clerk Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-clerk-maxwell/) > [The student who uses home made apparatus, which is always going wrong, often learns more than one who has the use of carefully adjusted…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-clerk-maxwell/the-student-who-uses-home-made-apparatus-which-is-always-going-wrong/) [James Clerk Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-clerk-maxwell/) > [My soul is an entangled knot, Upon a liquid vortex wrought By Intellect in the Unseen residing, And thine doth like a convict sit,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-clerk-maxwell/my-soul-is-an-entangled-knot-upon-a-liquid-vortex-wrought-by/) [James Clerk Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-clerk-maxwell/) > [The mathematical difficulties of the theory of rotation arise chiefly from the want of geometrical illustrations and sensible images, by which we might fix…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-clerk-maxwell/the-mathematical-difficulties-of-the-theory-of-rotation-arise-chiefly/) [James Clerk Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-clerk-maxwell/) > [Mathematicians may flatter themselves that they possess new ideas which mere human language is as yet unable to express. Let them make the effort…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-clerk-maxwell/mathematicians-may-flatter-themselves-that-they-possess-new-ideas/) [James Clerk Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-clerk-maxwell/) [Explore all 64 James Clerk Maxwell quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-clerk-maxwell/) ## More Chance and change quotes > [In this world of chance and change and mutability, the fulfillment of any resolve depends on the will of the Lord.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vinoba-bhave/in-this-world-of-chance-and-change-and-mutability-the-fulfillment-of/) [Vinoba Bhave](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vinoba-bhave/) > [Do we, holding that the gods exist, deceive ourselves with insubstantial dreams and lies, while random careless chance and change alone control the world?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/euripides/do-we-holding-that-the-gods-exist-deceive-ourselves-with/) [Euripides](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/euripides/) > [Life is full of chances and changes, and the most prosperous of men may in the evening of his days meet with great misfortunes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/life-is-full-of-chances-and-changes-and-the-most-prosperous-of-men/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [Chance and change are busy ever;Man decays, and ages move;But His mercy waneth never;God is wisdom, God is love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-bowring/chance-and-change-are-busy-ever-man-decays-and-ages-move-but-his/) [John Bowring](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-bowring/) > [We don't go to the ocean for anything as simple as happiness, do we? We go there to feel alive. Like life, the ocean…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eileen-wilks/we-don-t-go-to-the-ocean-for-anything-as-simple-as-happiness-do-we-we/) [Eileen Wilks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eileen-wilks/) > [The 3 C's of Life: Choices, Chances and Changes.You must make a choice to take a chance or you will never change.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zig-ziglar/the-3-c-s-of-life-choices-chances-and-changes-you-must-make-a-choice/) [Zig Ziglar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zig-ziglar/) > [“...believing in the magic of life, the power of hope, the cosmic sanity of chance and change, and the unmistakable power of love.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kris-radish/believing-in-the-magic-of-life-the-power-of-hope-the-cosmic-sanity-of/) [Kris Radish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kris-radish/) > [Fate,Time,Occasion,Chance, and Change? To these All things are subject but eternal love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/percy-bysshe-shelley/fate-time-occasion-chance-and-change-to-these-all-things-are-subject/) [Percy Bysshe Shelley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/percy-bysshe-shelley/) [Browse all 9 Chance and change quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chance-and-change-29586/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The equations of dynamics completely express the laws of the historical method as applied to matter, but the application of these equations implies a perfect knowledge of all the data. But the smallest portion of matter which we can subject to experiment consists of millions of molecules, not one of which ever becomes individually sensible to us. We cannot, therefore, ascertain the actual motion of anyone of these molecules; so that we are obliged to abandon the strict historical method, and to adopt the statistical method of dealing with large groups of molecules ... Thus molecular science teaches us that our experiments can never give us anything more than statistical information, and that no law derived from them can pretend to absolute precision. 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