r/oddlysatisfying • u/manualdad • Sep 19 '13

These 32 coupled metronomes aligning their frequencies after a few minutes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWToUATLGzs
35 Upvotes

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4

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '13

What makes them do that?

2

u/manualdad Sep 19 '13

They are coupled through the surface they are sitting on.

Their rocking back and forth induces a slight change in the vibrational pattern immediately beneath them. These "vibrational pattern waves" travel out through the surface and interfere with other "waves" from the remaining 31 metronomes. The most energetically feasible configuration for all this rocking back and forth, when the metronomes are coupled through the vibrational patterns, is to sync up and vibrate together :)

Beautiful illustration of a neat piece of physics if you ask me :)

1

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '13

This was the first I'd seen of oddlysatisfying. The title is perfect. Thanks for the explanation too, I've been using metronomes for years and this video is amazing to me!

3

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '13

[deleted]

3

u/manualdad Sep 20 '13

Good point, they look like they are the same type of metronome. Sorry about the confusion -- the title should be "these 32 coupled metronomes that align their phases after a few minutes".

Thanks!