Details

In the three snapshots, the sled follows a path down the hill with small moguls (0.5 in Thumbnail and Snapshot 1) with the Poincaré plot at a different downhill position (0 and 5) that form "strange attractors". On the hill with very large moguls (0.8 in Snapshot 2 and 3) the path is almost nonchaotic since the repeated cross-hill velocity and positions of the sled are very close to constant values.

For an excellent discussion of chaos, strange attractors, and other aspects of chaos, see E. N. Lorenz, The Essence of Chaos, Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1993; paperback, 1995. Of course, the icon of chaos was developed by Dr. Lorenz. The implementation of the sliding board by the author is found in R. M. Lurie, "A Review and Demonstration of 'The Essence of Chaos' by Edward N. Lorenz," Mathematica for Education and Research, 11(4), 2006 pp. 404–425, updated for Mathematica 7 here.