Research | The Visual Patterns of Audio Frequencies Seen through Vibrating Sand — Colossal

Created

Aug 21, 2025 1:42 PM

Notes

URL

https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2013/06/the-visual-patterns-of-audio-frequencies-seen-through-vibrating-sand/

Amazing Resonance Experiment!

Music: Dark Wave - https://open.spotify.com/track/1gnjcZeuyHg768yZBimjRb Add me on Facebook - (click LIKE on Facebook to add me) http://www.facebook.com/brusspup The song in the video is my latest song. You can find it on iTunes or Amazon. Song name: Dark Wave https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/dark-wave/id655667181?i=655667187 http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Wave/dp/B00D3J9TMA/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&qid=1370527738&sr=8-18 All of the equipment for this experiment was provided by PASCO scientific http://www.pasco.com Leave a comment letting me know what your favorite pattern is. My favorite is 5284 hz (at 3:08). So this experiment is the Chladni plate experiment. I used a tone generator, a wave driver (speaker) and a metal plate attached to the speaker. First add sand to the plate then begin playing a tone. Certain frequencies vibrate the metal plate in such a way that it creates areas where there is no vibration. The sand "falls" into those areas, creating beautiful geometric patterns. As the frequency increases in pitch the patterns become more complex. Unedited version with tone throughout entire video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yaqUI4b974

www.youtube.com

Youtube user Brusspup who explores the intersection between art and science just released this new video featuring the Chladni plate experiment. First a black metal plate is attached to a tone generator and then sand is poured on the plate. As the speaker is cycled through various frequencies the sand naturally gravitates to the area where the least amount of vibration occurs causing fascinating geometric patterns to emerge. There’s actually a mathematical law that determines how each shape will form, the higher the frequency the more complex the pattern.