Self-organization facts for kids

Phospholipid bilayer

Water crystals forming on glass show a natural process happening when conditions are right.

Ripple patterns in a sand dune made by wind or water are an example of a natural self-organized shape.

The Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland is a complex self-organized structure made by natural processes.

Self-organization is when order appears all by itself from something that was once messy or random. It's like magic, but it's science! This process happens naturally. No one is telling it what to do, and nothing is controlling it from the inside or outside.

Self-organization can be seen in many different areas. These include physical things, chemicals, living things, and even how people interact. A simple example is when crystals form. Another important example is the lipid bilayer. This is a key part of every cell membrane, which is like the skin of a cell.

Many things that self-organize have "emergent" properties. This means you can't always guess what will happen. There are often too many possibilities to study them all.

Here are some cool examples:

• Protein folding: After a cell makes a protein, it folds itself into a special working shape. Each protein has one or two stable shapes. But it's very hard to guess the final shape just by looking at its amino acid sequence.
• Free markets: Some people believe that free market economies create their own order. They think this order is more efficient than any plan made by a central group. This idea is sometimes called the "invisible hand." It means that when people act on their own information, the whole economy can become better for everyone.

Images for kids

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  Self-organization in tiny Nb3O7(OH) cubes. They slowly change from messy shapes into organized 3D networks of nanowires.

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  This DNA structure (left) builds itself into the shape shown on the right.

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  Birds flocking together is an example of self-organization in nature.

See also

In Spanish: Autoorganización para niños