Cymatics lab.
Change a frequency.
Observe the pattern. Hold it alongside another.
Pin this view, then change the frequency to compare patterns side by side.
Grains at the quiet places.
A nodal-density study of sand on a vibrating steel plate. Bright grains mark areas of low modelled motion; they are a visual proxy, not a particle simulation.
Model assumptions & sources
Sand / plate
A 300 × 300 mm steel plate, 0.5 mm thick, simply supported on all four edges. E = 200 GPa, density = 7,850 kg/m³, Poisson ratio = 0.30; assumed damping ratio = 0.008.
Modes use sin(mπx/a) sin(nπy/a), with f = (π/2)√(D/ρh)(m² + n²)/a² and D = Eh³/[12(1 − ν²)]. The grain-density proxy highlights low RMS displacement. Grain collisions, friction and settling time are omitted.
Jim Woodhouse · Plate vibrationWater / basin
A 220 × 220 mm basin, water depth 8 mm. Density = 1,000 kg/m³, surface tension = 0.072 N/m, gravity = 9.81 m/s²; assumed damping ratio = 0.018.
Reflecting walls use cos(mπx/a) cos(nπy/a), with ω² = (gk + σk³/ρ) tanh(kd). This is a directly forced linear surface-wave model. Parametric Faraday waves, splashing, meniscus effects and nonlinear flows are omitted.
MIT · The Physics of Waves, §11.5How to interpret a study
A fixed point drive at 37% of the width and 43% of the height excites the 16 strongest damped modes. Sand considers indices 1–14; water considers 0–48. Each view is normalized separately: brightness cannot compare absolute response strength.
Water animation uses a 0.35 Hz display cycle, not the entered drive rate. A pinned water view holds phase zero. Frequency alone does not determine a real pattern: vessel geometry, mounting, forcing and material properties also matter.
The theoretical tab is an artistic radial interference mapping. It makes no claim about biological growth, crystallization or generational transmission.