Not everything works out neatly. Our abstractions are a simplification of reality. It is symmetry breaking that has explained the nature of elementary particles. We smooth over the randomness in nature to verify fundamental laws. Mathematics has been very successful in capturing physical phenomena but its job is incomplete.

Chaos is associated with the freedom of a system. The application of constraints can impose order on a system. In the case of the atoms in elliptical and circular patterns acting more stablely, it may be the confinement that imposes order. The atoms simply have nowhere to go. They are packed, that is, in a minimal energy state. If there are gaps or holes in the structure, atoms can move to fill them and aquire energy in the process if there is an attraction between them. Linear structures are more stable because motion within the structure is blocked. Only transverse motion is permissible.

There are dangers in oversimplification and extrapolation from known results. Prudence requires that make allowances for our lack of complete knowledge about physical reality.