Anything than can happen, will happen, given enough time

[MathJakob]

Anything that can physically be true, will eventually be true given infinite time right? Is there a law or an expression which I can use to express this statement? Obviously we're talking about arrangement and forumation of atoms ect. I already know that if you had 2 atoms traveling parallel to each other they would never diverge but I'm talking about arrangements of atoms.

So for example given enough time there will be a planet which forms which is an exact replica of earth, but instead I am an exact replica of Newton but I'm asking this question dressed as a banana.

I know it sounds outrageous but those kind of statement are true right?

tldr; is there an equation or law that explains "anything than can happen, will happen, given enough time"

 

[jedishrfu]

The only law I can think of is Murphy's Law...

 

[MuIotaTau]

Although I've never done any calculations related to it personally, I imagine Poincare recurrence theorem might be what you're looking for. It concerns the amount of time necessary for a system to return to a given initial state.

 

[jedishrfu]

there's also the drake equation for intelligent life in the universe

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_equation

 

[Nugatory]

is there an equation or law that explains "anything that can happen, will happen, given enough time"

As you've phrased it, no.

However, you can write down the probability of the event having happened by time $T$, and you can consider the limit as $T$ approaches \infty.

For example, say you're flipping an honest coin once a second. Obviously it can happen that the coin lands heads-up eventually. But must it do so, given enough time? The probability of the coin landing heads-up at least once in N flips is $1-2^{-N}$. That's never equal to 1, but you can make it as close to 1 as you wish by choosing a large enough value of N.

 

[SteamKing]

'Anything THAT can happen, will happen, given enough time'.

 

[adjacent]

Anything that can happen may not happen even if given enough time.For example,think about us,humans.We CAN kill people.Think about yourself.If you are not willing to do something,then even if YOU are given a lifetime,you will not do it.If you are forced,it's not you doing it.So not everything that CAN happen,will happen,given enough time

 

[MathJakob]

Anything that can happen may not happen even if given enough time.For example,think about us,humans.We CAN kill people.Think about yourself.If you are not willing to do something,then even if YOU are given a lifetime,you will not do it.If you are forced,it's not you doing it.So not everything that CAN happen,will happen,given enough time

But in an infinite universe there will be a me that does kill someone?

 

[adjacent]

Parallel universes,like in this thread,(https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=325209)are just theoretical,they are not proven.We don't know for sure whether they exist or not.That doesn't even make any sense at all.There were many theoretical theories which seems very strong but disproved later.Like Aristotle's planet revolving around Earth theory,Some ancient greek saying that sun was 1 inch long,and many more.

 

[ZapperZ]

Why this in the math forums, I have no idea.

Thread closed, pending moderation.

Zz.