# snowball effect (stacked-dependency)

*Ordinarily means:* When a small thing grows bigger by picking up more of the same as it goes.

A change that grows because each next step depends on the size achieved by the previous, until the weight of prior accumulation drives further accumulation without need for new cause.

- Computed level: L19 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: emergent phenomena  ·  Arena: social, physical, systemic

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [drift](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-drift.aimless), [dependence](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-dependence.condition), [growth](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-growth.development), [momentum](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-momentum.retained), [threshold](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-threshold.boundary)

**Through:** stacked dependency

**Novel properties:**
- self-amplifying feedback
- autonomous escalation

## Examples
- The 2008 financial crisis accelerated as mortgage defaults raised credit insurance costs, triggering more defaults. *(economics)*
- Avalanches grow rapidly when falling snow increases speed, entraining more snowpack from the mountainside. *(physics)*
- Wikipedia's first 10,000 articles took months; the next 100,000 came faster as editors attracted more editors. *(computing)*

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*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-snowball-effect.stacked-dependency*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-snowball-effect.stacked-dependency.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*