Sound Made Visible: How vibrations create stunning geometric patterns
Cymatics — from the Greek kyma (wave) — is the study of visible sound. When a surface vibrates at specific frequencies, it organizes particles, liquids, and even fire into astonishingly precise geometric patterns. These patterns aren't designed; they emerge spontaneously from the physics of resonance.
Ernst Chladni first revealed this in 1787 by drawing a violin bow across sand-covered metal plates. The sand collected along the nodal lines — places where the plate doesn't move — creating intricate figures that change with each frequency. These simulations let you explore the hidden geometry of sound.
The classic experiment: sand on a vibrating plate reveals stunning nodal patterns. Sweep through frequencies to watch patterns morph and transform.
Classic Cymatics 02Interactive 2D exploration of plate vibration modes. Drag through mode numbers (m,n) to see how nodal patterns increase in complexity.
Modal Analysis 03Bessel function vibration patterns on a circular membrane. See why drums sound the way they do — their overtones form stunning circular patterns.
Bessel Functions 04Higher-order vibration modes on a square plate. Combine two mode numbers to create intricate interference patterns in real-time.
Plate Modes 05Two-frequency patterns like an oscilloscope. Musical intervals create closed curves: octave makes a figure-8, fifth makes a pretzel.
Frequency RatiosKundt's tube: visualize pressure nodes and antinodes inside a resonant tube. See how harmonics create evenly-spaced patterns.
Resonance 07Water surface patterns from vertical vibration. Watch concentric ripples interact and form standing wave lattices.
Surface Waves 08Parametric surface instability: vibrate a fluid container vertically and watch hexagonal, square, and stripe patterns spontaneously emerge.
Instability 09Build complex waveforms from pure harmonics. Toggle individual overtones to see and hear how timbre is constructed from simple sine waves.
Fourier Synthesis 10Two-source wave interference like a ripple tank. Move the sources to see constructive and destructive interference create hyperbolic fringes.
Wave InterferenceWatch energy accumulate in a resonating system. Sweep through frequencies to find resonance peaks where amplitude explodes dramatically.
Resonance 12The auditory illusion of endlessly rising pitch, visualized as a spiral of frequency components that continuously ascend yet never get higher.
Auditory Illusion 13Sound pressure nodes can trap particles in mid-air! See how standing waves between two speakers create invisible shelves of force.
Sound Pressure 14Why does a perfect fifth sound harmonious? Because 3:2 creates a simple closed pattern. Dissonance makes messy, never-repeating figures.
Music Theory 15Two close frequencies create a throbbing amplitude envelope. Watch the beat pattern emerge as you tune two waves toward each other.
Wave SuperpositionHow waves propagate inside confined rectangular channels. See TE and TM modes as stunning 2D patterns with cutoff frequencies.
Electromagnetic 17Vibrations in a crystal lattice. Watch how waves propagate through a chain of atoms — the speed depends on wavelength in surprising ways.
Solid State 18A real-time spectrogram that paints frequency content as a scrolling waterfall of color. Generate tones and watch them appear as bright bands.
Spectrogram 19Three-dimensional water surface deformation driven by sound frequencies. Watch the surface buckle into geometric peaks and valleys.
3D Surface 20Every vowel sound is a unique pattern of resonant peaks. See how "ah", "ee", "oo" create distinctly different frequency fingerprints.
Voice Science