{
  "id": "flywheel-effect.momentum",
  "term": "flywheel effect",
  "sense": "momentum",
  "pos": "noun",
  "status": "review",
  "level": 15,
  "domain": "the whole exceeding its parts",
  "style": "folk",
  "definition": "A whole that persists through time with less maintenance than its parts would require alone, because their interactions have crossed a wall where the pattern of change becomes self-sustaining.",
  "folk_gloss": "A process that gets easier and faster once it has started.",
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "maintenance.upkeep",
      "interaction.process",
      "persist.continue",
      "change.process",
      "wall.range-end"
    ],
    "interaction": "interaction.process",
    "novel_properties": [
      "persist.continue",
      "change.process"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [],
  "relations": [],
  "used_by": [],
  "forms": [
    "flywheel",
    "flywheel effect"
  ],
  "closed": false,
  "provenance": {
    "author": "phrases:qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-2507",
    "date": "2026-07-29",
    "confidence": 0.7,
    "sources": [
      "folk phrase — the whole exceeding its parts"
    ]
  },
  "canonical": "https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-flywheel-effect.momentum"
}