SWINGING THE LEAD

Order from chaos

The “pendulums” in a scientific simulation were loosely connected to each other, as oscillators also are in many natural situations.
A textbook example of such “coupled” oscillators is pendulums with springs linking their ends together.
The scientists found that the pendulums, when pushed by forces according to a regular rhythm, behaved chaotically and swung out of sync.
Yet when the researchers introduced disorder -- applying forces at random intervals to each oscillator -- they began to swing in synch. The “forces” were applied along the rods of the “pendulums” to make them swing. 
“When you introduce disorder … the chaos that was present before disappears and there is order,” said Sebastian F. Brandt, a physics graduate student at Washington University in St. Louis and lead author of the study. The findings appeared in the January issue of the research journal Physical Review Letters. 

[Other common cases are violin strings, which are connected by their sounding boards, and electrical filters used in communications.]