To exemplify the concept of a state in nature, consider the temperature of water, the position of a planet, or the charge of a magnet. While macroscopically the states of all things in the universe, from an atom to a galaxy, appear to be cyclic, microscopically they are not. The macro or cyclic scope provides for a TSN that is a smooth gradient (ultimately a spectrum) while the micro or non-cyclic scope provides for a TSN that is characteristic of an abrupt oscillation. When analyzing anything in nature, including ourselves, in anticipation of the transition between one state and another, it is important to note scope and its corresponding TSN to form an accurate prediction.
Take, for example, the daytime-temperature transition between fall and winter. Macroscopically, this transition is smooth and cyclic. Each year, the seasons change in the same pattern, one gradually becoming the other without a definitive stop. Microscopically, however, the transition is not smooth, but rather a gradient of oscillation between two states, the interval between which fluctuates on a bell curve over time. Moreover, the temperature on days at the end of fall and beginning of winter never looks like this: 65, 65, 64, 64, 64, 63, 61, 61, 60, 59, 59, 57, 56, 56, 56 and so on until it is steadily about 45 degrees. Rather, it is more likely to oscillate between groups of warm and cold days, like this: 65, 65, 64, 55, 54, 65, 63, 65, 56, 64, 64, 63, 53, 54, 52, 65, 62 … 54, 56, 56, 55, 45, 44, 55, 55, 54, 53, 56, 44, 45, 43, 53, etc. The bold temperatures are one state while the unmodified text is another. Notice there were two days in the fifties, then three days in the fifties, at the end of the transition there was a similar pattern in the forties. The groups of days oscillated back and forth.
