Physics or Wizardry? 32 Metronomes Tell the Tale

Like one hand clapping, a single metronome is always in sync with itself. But add another and you’d have to try pretty hard to get them to both click perfectly in sync. How about thirty-two of them?

Impossible. Right?

Actually it’s quite possible, as this video proves. Exactly 32 metronomes unite in synchronous play with no help from human hands. And there’s simple physics at the heart of it. 

When the arm of any metronome hits the side, it exerts a force on the blue platform. Normally friction would make that unnoticeable. But this platform is special. It’s set up on rollers so that it can move from side to side.

When any two metronome arms hit, their forces on the platform either cancel out or add together, depending on how out of or in sync they are. Any arms that are out of sync will experience a force in the opposite direction that inches them closer to the pack. 

Eventually all 32 arms find the same rhythm and sync up. This is the most I’ve ever seen at once. (That’s a challenge, by the way. Get on it.)

(video by IkeguchiLab)

Source: youtube.com

646 Notes/ Hide

  1. versexchorus reblogged this from abijchen
  2. theprincessofghetto reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  3. oaralie reblogged this from rorowe and added:
    Epic.
  4. ravelicious reblogged this from dblbassed
  5. dovryn reblogged this from sinderbella
  6. sinderbella reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  7. msfranceshan reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  8. diasyrmus reblogged this from stopmoving and added:
    while we’re on the Darmstädt stuff, I remember watching this and thinking, ‘hang in there little guy!’ to the metronome...
  9. disazn reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  10. onechrisn reblogged this from jtotheizzoe and added:
    I can not express...feeling I feel when I watch...something...
  11. faetalflaws reblogged this from wommacky
  12. suchatwo reblogged this from cielito-lindo
  13. catastrophe-curve reblogged this from swimmingviolist
  14. yuniecorn reblogged this from moogleandmoose
  15. cielito-lindo reblogged this from girlengineer
  16. elleirbagem reblogged this from kancerously
  17. well-i-guess-its-a-blog reblogged this from swimmingviolist
  18. pinkhairedatheart reblogged this from moogleandmoose
  19. umadeon reblogged this from swimmingviolist
  20. swimmingviolist reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  21. bettafish-resistance reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  22. voxprincess reblogged this from girlengineer and added:
    Music meets physics!
  23. thepoisonforkuzco reblogged this from theoldwalkingsong
  24. girlengineer reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  25. theoldwalkingsong reblogged this from bookgeekgrrl and added:
    does the tempo matter I wonder?
  26. lostmyvoicesomewhere reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  27. kancerously reblogged this from regalrandall
  28. acureforwritersblock reblogged this from alariq
  29. mindlesslyreblogged reblogged this from animusperplexus
  30. thatgirlwhodared reblogged this from silverscales

Recent comments

Blog comments powered by Disqus