{
  "id": "machine.constructed-system",
  "term": "machine",
  "sense": "constructed-system",
  "pos": "noun",
  "status": "review",
  "level": 6,
  "arena": "engineered",
  "domain": "physical",
  "style": null,
  "definition": "A device made so that energy flows through a structure to do change and persist in a pattern.",
  "folk_gloss": null,
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "device.tool",
      "energy.capacity",
      "structure.arrangement",
      "persist.continue",
      "change.process",
      "flow.movement",
      "make.verb",
      "pattern.regularity"
    ],
    "interaction": "Energy flows through a structured arrangement of parts, enabling controlled change that persists.",
    "novel_properties": [
      "controlled transformation",
      "dynamic stability",
      "directed functionality"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [
    {
      "text": "The LHC at CERN circulates protons at 6.5 TeV, guided by superconducting magnets in a 27-km ring.",
      "domain": "physics"
    },
    {
      "text": "A beehive maintains a 35°C internal temperature despite external swings, using wing-fanned air flow.",
      "domain": "biology"
    },
    {
      "text": "The Hoover Dam channels Colorado River water through turbines to generate 4.2 TWh yearly.",
      "domain": "engineering"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "id": "device.tool",
      "type": "is-a",
      "note": "ujson failed: Invalid control character at line 21 column 12 (char 1384)"
    }
  ],
  "used_by": [
    "car.transport",
    "socket.electrical"
  ],
  "forms": [
    "machine",
    "machines"
  ],
  "closed": true,
  "provenance": {
    "author": "openrouter:qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-2507",
    "date": "2026-07-29",
    "confidence": 0.6,
    "reconciled": {
      "by": "openrouter:qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-2507",
      "date": "2026-07-31",
      "changed": "definition",
      "note": "Added missing constitutive concepts to components; definition was correct but underspecified."
    }
  },
  "canonical": "https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-machine.constructed-system"
}