energy landscapes

An energy landscape is a way to visualize all possible states of a system, like a ball moving across a surface with hills and valleys. Each point represents a specific configuration, and the height indicates the system’s energy. Valleys correspond to stable states where the system prefers to stay, while hills are less stable or transition states. This concept helps scientists understand how systems change, settle into stable forms, or move between different states, providing insights into processes like chemical reactions, protein folding, and material behavior.