Besides the wraparound property, the main difference between this gun and the previous one is that there is a block of populated squares in the upper-left corner that destroys the gliders when they collide with it.

There are also controls to start and stop the game, or single step it. You can also reset it to the original configuration by clicking on Setup.

You can demonstrate that this system, similar to a chaotic system, has Sensitive Dependence on Initial Conditions.

 

  1. Click on Setup.
  2. Make one of the populated cells empty by clicking on it.
  3. Click on Start.

You will see that this small change almost always has a profound effect on the evolution of the system.

Clicking on the Refresh button of your browser will return the animation to the initial state it had when you first accessed it.

You can experiment with un-populating different cells. You will see that each different small change in the initial conditions leads to very different evolutions.