Cymatics (fromAncient Greek:κῦμα,romanized: kŷma,lit. 'wave') is a subset ofmodal vibrational phenomena. The term was coined by Swiss physicianHans Jenny (1904–1972). Typically the surface of a plate, diaphragm, or membrane is vibrated, and regions of maximum and minimum displacement are made visible in a thin coating of particles, paste, or liquid.[1] Different patterns emerge in the excitatory medium depending on the geometry of the plate and the driving frequency.
The apparatus employed can be simple, such as the Chinesespouting bowl, in which copper handles are rubbed and cause the copper bottom elements to vibrate. Other examples include theChladni plate[2] and the so-called cymascope.
On July 8, 1680,Robert Hooke was able to see the nodal patterns associated with the modes of vibration of glass plates. Hooke ran abow along the edge of a glass plate covered with flour, and saw the nodal patterns emerge.[3]
The German musician and physicistErnst Chladni noticed in the eighteenth century that the modes of vibration of a membrane or a plate can be observed by sprinkling the vibrating surface with a fine dust (e.g.,lycopodium powder, flour or fine sand). The powder moves due to the vibration and accumulates progressively in points of the surface corresponding to the sound vibration. The points form a pattern of lines, known as "nodal lines of the vibration mode". The normal modes of vibration, and the pattern of nodal lines associated with each of these, are completely determined, for a surface with homogeneous mechanical characteristics, from the geometric shape of the surface and by the way in which the surface is constrained.[3]
Experiments of this kind, similar to those carried out earlier byGalileo Galilei[4] around 1630 and by Robert Hooke in 1680, were later perfected by Chladni, who introduced them systematically in 1787 in his bookEntdeckungen über die Theorie des Klanges (Discoveries on the theory of sound). This provided an important contribution to the understanding of acoustic phenomena and the functioning of musical instruments. The figures thus obtained (with the aid of a violin bow that rubbed perpendicularly along the edge of smooth plates covered with fine sand) are still designated by the name of "Chladni figures".
Michael Faraday discovered that liquids in a bowl produce regular patterns when the bowl is vibrated, so-calledFaraday waves.
In 1967Hans Jenny, a student of theanthroposophistRudolf Steiner, published the first of two volumes in German entitledKymatic; the second was published posthumously in 1972.) He showed the evolution of harmonic images by subjecting inert substances to oscillatingsound waves. His substantial body of work, based on rigorous scientific methodology, developed Chladni's experiments, highlighting intricate, organic, harmonic images that reflected many universal patterns found throughout nature and especially living organisms. Jenny spread powders, pastes, and liquids on a metal plate connected to an oscillator which could produce a broad spectrum of frequencies. The substances were organized into different structures characterized by geometric shapes typical of the frequency of the vibration emitted by the oscillator. According to Jenny, these structures, reminiscent of themandala and other forms recurring in nature, would be a manifestation of an invisible force field of the vibrational energy that generated it. He was particularly impressed by an observation that imposing a vocalization in ancient Sanskrit ofOm (regarded by Hindus and Buddhists as the sound of creation) the lycopodium powder formed a circle with a centre point, one of the ways in whichOm had been represented.
In fact, for a plate of circular shape, resting in the centre (or the border, or at least in a set of points with central symmetry), the nodal vibration modes all have central symmetry, so the observation of Jenny is entirely consistent with well known mathematical properties.[5] From the physical-mathematical standpoint, the form of the nodal patterns is predetermined by the shape of the body set in vibration or, in the case of acoustic waves in a gas, the shape of the cavity in which the gas is contained. The sound wave, therefore, does not influence at all the shape of the vibrating body or the shape of the nodal patterns. The only thing that changes due to the vibration is the arrangement of the sand. The image formed by the sand, in turn, is influenced by the frequency spectrum of the vibration only because each vibration mode is characterized by a specific frequency. Therefore, the spectrum of the signal that excites the vibration determines which patterns are actually nodally displayed. The physical phenomena involved in the formation of Chladni figures are best explained by classical physics.[6]
Devices for displaying nodal images have influenced visual arts and contemporary music. ArtistBjörk created projections of cymatics patterns by using bass frequencies on tour for her albumBiophilia.
Hans Jenny's book on Chladni figures influencedAlvin Lucier and helped lead to Lucier's compositionQueen of the South. Jenny's work was also followed up byCenter for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) founderGyörgy Kepes atMIT.[7] His work in this area included an acoustically vibrated piece ofsheet metal in which small holes had been drilled in a grid. Small flames of gas burned through these holes andthermodynamic patterns were made visible by this setup.
In the mid-1980s, visual artistRon Rocco, who also developed his work at CAVS, employed mirrors mounted to tinyservo motors, driven by the audio signal of a synthesizer and amplified by a tube amp to reflect the beam of a laser. This created light patterns which corresponded to the audio's frequency and amplitude. Using this beam to generate video feedback and computers to process the feedback signal, Rocco created his "Andro-media" series of installations. Rocco later formed a collaboration with musicianDavid Hykes, who practiced a form of Mongolian overtone chanting with The Harmonic Choir, to generate cymatic images from a pool of liquid mercury, which functioned as a liquid mirror to modulate the beam of a Helium-Neonlaser from the sound thus generated. Photographs of this work can be found in theArs Electronica catalog of 1987.[8]
Contemporary German photographer and philosopherAlexander Lauterwasser has brought cymatics into the 21st century using finely craftedcrystal oscillators to resonate steel plates covered with fine sand and to vibrate small samples of water inPetri dishes. His first book,Water Sound Images,[9] translated into English in 2006, features imagery of light reflecting off the surface of water set into motion by sound sources ranging from puresine waves to music byBeethoven,Karlheinz Stockhausen,electroacoustic groupKymatik (who often record inambisonic surround sound) andovertone singing. The resulting photographs of standing wave patterns are striking. Lauterwasser's book focused on creating detailed visual analogues of natural patterns ranging from the distribution of spots on a leopard to the geometric patterns found in plants and flowers, to the shapes of jellyfish and the intricate patterns found on the shell of a tortoise.
ComposerStuart Mitchell and his father T.J. Mitchell claimed thatRosslyn Chapel's carvings supposedly contain references to cymatics patterns. In 2005 they created a work calledThe Rosslyn Motet realised by attempting to match variousChladni patterns to 13 geometric symbols carved onto the faces of cubes emanating from 14 arches.[10]
The musical groupThe Glitch Mob used cymatics to produce the music video "Becoming Harmonious (ft. Metal Mother)".[11]
Influenced byyantra diagrams and cymatics, artist and fashion designerMandali Mendrilla created a sculpture dress called "Kamadhenu" (Wish Tree Dress III) the pattern of which is basedon a Yantra diagram depicting goddessKamadhenu.[12][13]
Aphex Twin suggests learning more about cymatics in reference to 'master tuning of440 Hz' in a conversation with synth-makerTatsuya Takahashi.[14]
Since 2010, the art collective Analema Group creates participatory performances in which cymatic patterns are produced digitally in real-time by the audience.[15]
In 2014 musicianNigel Stanford produced "Cymatics", an instrumental and music video designed to demonstrate the visual aspects of cymatics.[16]
In 2016 songwriter and formerArizona State Quarterback Samson Szakacsy brought a cymatics device he called "the Drawing Machine" on tour and had each set draw live to portray how music looks.[citation needed]
Contemporary American painterJimmy O'Neal created his own cymascope, which he has used to produce various works of public art. One such painting is 511.95 Hz of wine, a large-scale mural based on the pattern created when tracing a finger around the rim of a nearly-empty wine glass.[17]
In 2020 an official medal was issued by the Royal Dutch Mint to mark the 65th anniversary of the Eurovision Song Contest hosted by the city of Rotterdam . A 3D scanner was able to capture the cymatics shapes of a vibrating dish filled with water from the Maas river. To create the coin, all the historical winning songs from previous contests were mixed together and emitted through a speaker.video,
The logo and theme art forEurovision 2022 is based on cymatics.[18]
The main title sequence forThe Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is inspired by cymatics.[19]
Inspired by periodic and symmetrical patterns at the air-liquid interface created by sound vibration, P. Chen and coworkers developed a method to engineer diverse structures from microscale materials using liquid-based templates.[20] This liquid-based template can be dynamically reconfigured by tuning vibration frequency and acceleration.
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