# tipping point (threshold)

*Ordinarily means:* The moment when a small change causes a sudden shift in a situation.

A parameter drifting just past a wall where the whole exceeds its parts, and nothing before it could hold the change back.

- Computed level: L16 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: emergence  ·  Arena: social dynamics

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [tipping point](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-tipping-point.irreversible)

**Through:** interaction.process

**Novel properties:**
- whole.exceeding.parts

## Examples
- In 2008, Iceland's banking system collapsed when liabilities exceeded GDP by a factor of ten, triggering national default. *(economics)*
- The Chernobyl reactor core breached its containment after a power surge passed 120% of rated capacity, releasing massive radiation. *(engineering)*
- On June 5, 1910, the first confirmed case of sudden oak death was recorded in California, leading to forest ecosystem collapse. *(biology)*

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