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ARCH11006 Digital Media Studio Project Semester 2 2014 1 R. Ní Bhrolcháin Digital Media Studio Project Cymatics Cymatics is the study of visible sound and vibration. This is usually evident on a surface of a plate, diaphragm or membrane, which is vibrated. A thin layer of sand or salt particles, paste or liquid reveals symmetrical patterns in regions of maximum and minimum displacement. Different patterns emerge on the surface depending on the shape of the surface and the frequency that is produced. The vibration is generally so fast the distance of the surface moving is often imperceptible. The image on the right represents a rigid metal plate, which is attached to a device that vibrates. The red and green areas, represent the greatest distortion to the surface and the grey area in between these two areas are called nodal lines, where almost no movement is happening. When sand is placed onto the membrane to show these distortions it gets displaced by the peaks and troughs, which push the sand out of the way, causing it to settle along the nodal lines. The image on the right using sand a negative of the wave shape moving through the plate as the sand congregates where the wave is absent, thus revealing these striking patterns. When liquid is used the same phenomena causes the surface of the water to displace where finer distortions of the liquid occur if the frequency is increased. Background One of the first artists and scientists to notice the phenomena of cymatics was Leonardo Da Vinci. While Da Vinci was best known for his works of art, his studies of science far exceeded that of the time. His analysis of natural phenomena and human anatomy was not conceived or appreciated at that time. His observations of cymatics were apparent when he noticed that dust on a wooden table had formed into shapes when it vibrated. ‘'I say then that when a table is struck in different places the dust that is upon it is reduced to various shapes of mounds and tiny hillocks. The dust descends from the hypotenuse of these hillocks, enters beneath their base and raises itself again around the axis of the point of the hillock.' – (Da Vinci https://cymascope.com/cyma_research/history.html) Galileo was another to notice the formation of pattern on a vibrating surface while he was experimenting with plates and chisels in 1632. ''....scraping a brass plate with a sharp iron chisel in order to remove some spots from it and running the chisel rather rapidly over it, I once or twice, during many strokes, heard the plate emit a rather strong and clear whistling sound: on looking at the plate more carefully I noticed a long row of fine streaks parallel and equidistant from one another.." – (Galileo, , http://www.janmeinema.com/cymatics/who_was_hans_jenny.html) A Swiss medical doctor and scientist who studied visual sound, Hans Jenny, coined the term Cymatics. The word Cymatics stems from the Greek ‘kyma’ meaning ‘wave’ to describe the periodic effects that sound and vibration have on matter. Hans Jenny created many images using tone generators and crystal oscillators connected to metal plates, which enabled him to precisely control the frequency and amplitude of the signal. This enabled him to invent the ‘Tonoscope’, which used a human voice to vibrate the plates directly. The advantage of using crystal oscillators is that could determine exactly which frequency and amplitude he wanted. This was of huge benefit to him as it enabled him to research a continuous sequence of

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Page 1: Digital Media Studio Project R. Ní Bhrolcháin · ARCH11006 Digital Media Studio Project Semester 2 2014 1 Digital Media Studio Project R. Ní Bhrolcháin Cymatics Cymatics is the

ARCH11006 Digital Media Studio Project Semester 2 2014 1

R. Ní Bhrolcháin Digital Media Studio Project

Cymatics Cymatics is the study of visible sound and vibration. This is usually evident on a surface of a plate, diaphragm or membrane, which is vibrated. A thin layer of sand or salt particles, paste or liquid reveals symmetrical patterns in regions of maximum and minimum displacement. Different patterns emerge on the surface depending on the shape of the surface and the frequency that is produced.

The vibration is generally so fast the distance of the surface moving is often imperceptible. The image on the right represents a rigid metal plate, which is attached to a device that vibrates. The red and green areas, represent the greatest distortion to the surface and the grey area in between these two areas are called nodal lines, where almost no movement is happening.

When sand is placed onto the membrane to show these distortions it gets displaced by the peaks and troughs, which push the sand out of the way, causing it to settle along the nodal lines. The image on the right using sand a negative of the wave shape moving through the plate as the sand congregates where the wave is absent, thus revealing these striking patterns.

When liquid is used the same phenomena causes the surface of the water to displace where finer distortions of the liquid occur if the frequency is increased.

Background One of the first artists and scientists to notice the phenomena of cymatics was Leonardo Da Vinci. While Da Vinci was best known for his works of art, his studies of science far exceeded that of the time. His analysis of natural phenomena and human anatomy was not conceived or appreciated at that time. His observations of cymatics were apparent when he noticed that dust on a wooden table had formed into shapes when it vibrated.

‘'I say then that when a table is struck in different places the dust that is upon it is reduced to various shapes of mounds and tiny hillocks. The dust descends from the hypotenuse of these hillocks, enters beneath their base and raises itself again around the axis of the point of the hillock.' – (Da Vinci https://cymascope.com/cyma_research/history.html)

Galileo was another to notice the formation of pattern on a vibrating surface while he was experimenting with plates and chisels in 1632.

''....scraping a brass plate with a sharp iron chisel in order to remove some spots from it and running the chisel rather rapidly over it, I once or twice, during many strokes, heard the plate emit a rather strong and clear whistling sound: on looking at the plate more carefully I noticed a long row of fine streaks parallel and equidistant from one another.." – (Galileo, , http://www.janmeinema.com/cymatics/who_was_hans_jenny.html)

A Swiss medical doctor and scientist who studied visual sound, Hans Jenny, coined the term Cymatics. The word Cymatics stems from the Greek ‘kyma’ meaning ‘wave’ to describe the periodic effects that sound and vibration have on matter.

Hans Jenny created many images using tone generators and crystal oscillators connected to metal plates, which enabled him to precisely control the frequency and amplitude of the signal. This enabled him to invent the ‘Tonoscope’, which used a human voice to vibrate the plates directly. The advantage of using crystal oscillators is that could determine exactly which frequency and amplitude he wanted. This was of huge benefit to him as it enabled him to research a continuous sequence of

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ARCH11006 Digital Media Studio Project Semester 2 2014 2

R. Ní Bhrolcháin Digital Media Studio Project

events in which he had the possibility of changing the frequency or the amplitude or both. He used sand, iron filings or liquid and placed these on to the vibrating plates which produced shapes and patterns that were sometimes perfect structures and others that were chaotic and constantly in motion. Jenny was able to repeat these experiments and repeat his results each time. He also pointed out the resemblance between the shapes and patterns in nature and the shapes and patterns he generated in his experiments. These studies informed Jenny that cymatics and sound had their part in the creation of the universe. He believed that biological evolution was a result of vibrations. He thought that it is a driving force that could create everything from the shape of a mountain range, such as the Jungfrau Range in Switzerland to the petals on a flower.

"The more one studies these things, the more one realizes that sound is the creative principle. It must be regarded as primordial. No single phenomenal category can be claimed as the aboriginal principle. We cannot say, in the beginning was numbers or in the beginning was symmetry, etc..... They are not themselves the creative power. This power is inherent in tone, in sound." – (Jenny, http://www.janmeinema.com/cymatics/who_was_hans_jenny.html)

Methodology We began by each proposing our own ideas and concepts. Each member of the group wrote two concepts each and posted them to the group Facebook page. We then discussed these ideas and merged ideas we thought could worked well together and suggested others that would need more thought. Cymatics was the most popular choice so we began the brainstorming process. It was proposed that we visualise natural disasters by using the frequencies to illuminate the scale of the occurrence.

We decided to experiment with sand. We first spoke to the studio managers and a lecturer and asked for some advice, they thought gel speakers would work best and pointed us in the direction of a drum shop which would be able to help us. We purchased a second hand drum skin and tested the gel speakers underneath, using sand as material. We realised sand was too heavy and was not many patterns as a result so we used salt, which was lighter, and gave us some more defined shapes. Our initial idea was create an installation with three tables and a projection screen. Each table would produce a different sound, city sounds, natural sounds such as wind/waves and voice.

After some discussions and a meeting with our project supervisor we decided to concentrate on water and waves, in keeping with weather and natural disasters, it also tied our natural phenomena theme together; we would use sound waves to create vibrations/waves in water which would be illuminated by electromagnetic waves which are further discussed on page XX. We would use Fibonacci numbers, which are apparent in nature and use the ratios to map musical notes and colours onto the water

We then experimented with a thin metal baking tray, filled with water and gel speakers stuck to the bottom. This produced some excellent crystallised effects, which we were pleased with. We then discussed the addition of LED’s and thought about how to shine these through the bottom of our surface, we needed a clear container, which would hold water and emit light. We looked around for plastic containers but plastic

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did not produce powerful vibrations so we attempted it with an acrylic container, which we felt produced the patterns, and light that we were hoping for.

As time went on we decided to cut it back to using one platform, a shallow pool of water with speakers underneath and a touchscreen device at one end. Users could choose what frequencies they wanted to play to see the effects in the water.

Our supervisor, David House, suggested that the graphics on the touch screen should be related to the natural phenomena. Since we were using the Fibonacci numbers we looked into where the Fibonacci sequence is found in nature such as shells, flowers and weather as well as the Golden ratio. These images could be incorporated onto the touch screen for users to interact with.

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Imagery

Patterns in nature Using particle systems in Max Jitter, the following images could be created or formed when the user touches the screen, which would correlate with the ratios used. Images courtesy of Patterns in Nature (Stephens, 1977)

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Timeline Gantt chart to be included

Accounts DMSP

Drum Central Mapex Head 5 Riona 31/01/2014

Poundland Masking Tape & wire tape 2 Riona 03/02/2014

Tesco Sellotape 1.05 Riona 03/02/2014

Plastic 1 Jia LI

Poundland Salt 1 Ramona 03/02/2014

Timpson Padlocks 8.95 Ramona 03/02/2014

The Team (images placed here) Afonzo Arez - Design and Digital Media

Bethany Ciullo - Design and Digital Media

Rachel Feng - Design and Digital Media

Angeline Girard - Sound Design

Jia Li - Digital Media and Culture

Ramona Markova - Design and Digital Media

Ríona Ní Bhrolcháin - Design and Digital Media

Willow Yang – Digital Media and Culture

Section : References Akama, R (2013). Retrieved February 09, 2014,

From http://vimeo.com/76372565

Cunningham, A. (2010) Water Pool. Retrieved February 09, 2014,

From http://www.cymatics.co.uk/alice-cunningham/

Grant, E. (2009). Cymatics. Hans Jenny. Retrieved February 14, 2014,

From http://www.cymatics.co.uk/hans-jenny/

Reid, J & A. (n.d). Cymatics A Bridge to the unseen World. Retrieved February 11, 2014,

from http://cymascope.com/cyma_research/Veritas_cymatics.pdf

Fourneau, A (2013). Water Light Graffiti by, created in the Digitalarti Artlab. Retrieved February 09, 2014,

From http://vimeo.com/47095462

Stephens, P (1977). Patterns in Nature. London, Butler and Tanner.

Valeri, N. (2009). Polymathic Resonance. Retrieved February 11, 2014,

from http://nvaleri.com/blog/2009/09/leonardo-da-vinci-scientific.html

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Meyer, S. & Pörksen, K. (2013) Sonic Water. Retrieved February 09, 2014,

From http://vimeo.com/65428138

No Author. (n.d). Cymatics. A Study of Wave Phenomena and Vibration. Retrieved February 12, 2014,

from http://monoskop.org/images/7/78/Jenny_Hans_Cymatics_A_Study_of_Wave_Phenomena_and_Vibration.pdf

No Author. (2007). Sacred Sound Tools - Hans Jenny. Retrieved February 14, 2014,

From http://9waysmysteryschool.tripod.com/sacredsoundtools/id12.html

No Author. (n.d). Cymatics. Retrieved February 13, 2014,

From http://www.rexresearch.com/cymatics/cymatics.htm

No Author. (n.d). Who was Hans Jenny – An introduction to the father of cymatics. Retrieved February 13, 2014,

From http://www.cymatics.org/

No Author. (n.d). History of Cymatics. Retrieved February 13, 2014,

From https://cymascope.com/cyma_research/history.html

No Author. (n.d). Cymatics. Retrieved February 13, 2014,

From http://planetawakening.blogspot.co.uk/p/cymatics.html

No Author. (n.d). Cymatics. Retrieved February 13, 2014,

From http://www.janmeinema.com/cymatics/who_was_hans_jenny.html

Park, L. (2013) Eunoia. Retrieved February 09, 2014,

From http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/eunoia-seeking-enlightenment-by-tracking-brainwaves

Ryden, R (n.d) Cymatic amplifier. Retrieved February 13, 2014,

From http://cymaticamplifier.com/process.html

Image Use No Author (n.d). Still image of Chladni distortion effect created using Falstads ripple tank applet http://www.falstad.com/ripple/ Retrieved February 18, 2014,

From http://www.cymatics.org/

No Author (n.d). Chladni plate image: Thanks to Meara O'Reilly. http://www.mearaoreilly.com February 18, 2014,

From http://www.cymatics.org/

No Author (2014). Leonardo Da Vinci. Retrieved February 18, 2014,

From http://www.leonardo.net/

William R. Shea (2011). Galileo Galilei. Retrieved February 18, 2014,

From http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2011/10/25/galileo.jpg

No Author (2013). Hans Jenny. Retrieved February 18, 2014,

From http://classes.dma.ucla.edu/Winter13/159C/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/hans-jenny.jpg