电路产生混沌现象的主要原因来自于电路系统中的非线性电阻，1971年，在加州伯克利分校的蔡少棠教授提出除了电容，电感，电阻之外，可能还存在一种组件。这种组件的电阻会随着通过它的电流量而发生阻值的变化，是一种有记忆功能的非线性电阻器。(In 1971, Professor Cai Shaotang of the University of California, Berkeley, proposed that besides capacitance, inductance and resistance, there might be a component. The resistance of this module changes with the current passing through it. It is a kind of non-linear resistor with memory function.)