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So is this kind of like watching a queue of traffic in front of you waiting to turn right (for arguments sake) and their inticator lights flash out of time but gradually get closer and then flash perfectly in time for a moment then goes back out of sync?
The pendulums are all different lengths, from short to long. The period of a pendulum depends on its length, and so they all have slightly different periods.
They all oscillate with their characteristic period, and the patterns you see are as they go in and out of (temporary) sync with each other. They are all operating as separate pendulums – that they are all attached to one long metal bar is not significant.
Use these pendulum lengths (in cm): 34.358, 33.049, 31.814, 30.647, 29.542, 28.497, 27.505, 26.565, 25.672, 24.824, 24.016, 23.248, 22.516, 21.818, and 21.152 cm. The values have too many decimal places because my gravitational constant was only accurate to one decimal place but they should get you close. You’ll want to have a mechanism to shift the lengths slightly anyway. These lengths should get you from 51 to 65 oscillations per minute in 15 steps.
Well done–I remember seeing this in a physics class more than 50 years ago, and learned from it why planets are in their particular orbits (based on size, weight, etc); this definitely gets rid of the fable of an “unseen hand” controlling anything. This is refreshing.
It’s actually even simpler than that – weight/mass doesn’t have any effect on either the pendulum or the orbits (other than the controlling gravitational field, eg the earth for the pendulum or the sun for a solar system orbit), it’s the same principle that makes two different objects fall at the same rate. One of the big questions in physics is whether gravitational mass and inertial mass are the same, and experiments like this so far suggest that it is.
It seems to me, at first glance, that if you wanted to replicate this, the lengths of each pendulum must have a logarithmic relationship with the ones around it to reproduce this effect. I’d have to guess that if you haphazardly made each a little longer than the previous one, or even if you made each one a centimeter longer than the previous one, the effect wouldn’t match what we see in the video.
Does anyone have the math background to confirm this? Mine isn’t up to the challenge.
From a female perspective (most replies seem to be men) I wouldn’t exactly call in ‘beautiful’… it’s interesting and clever but I think it might be a man thing to think it’s beautiful…
So beautiful, it makes me feel like both patterns and randomness are part of the design once set in motion. Got to love math, physics, watching these patterns evolve. Thanks!
As I watched the video, I couldn’t help wondering if the balls would eventually sync back up. I was delighted to see them do exactly that. (Behave yourself, ball # 5). I found it most interesting how the brain finds patterns as three, four or five balls would appear to sync their swings. How does it make me feel? Joyous!
May 4, 2011 at 5:36 am |
That’s frikkin’ awesome.
May 4, 2011 at 6:03 am |
The next vid is also cool http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M8ciWSgc_k
Both show nicely why our musical notes sound so nice together, especially quarts and quints
Cheers
May 4, 2011 at 6:23 am |
Now I’m about to go roll one up, burn it, and watch that like 20 more times !
May 4, 2011 at 6:25 am |
Incredible!
May 4, 2011 at 6:41 am |
That’s awesome.
May 4, 2011 at 6:41 am |
I think the Higgs bosun particles are just toying with our minds there
, amazing stuff.
May 4, 2011 at 6:46 am |
That’s amazing. Going straight to my science classroom.
May 4, 2011 at 6:53 am |
Physics is beautiful.
May 4, 2011 at 7:10 am |
I like it.
May 4, 2011 at 7:13 am |
Is anyone able to offer an explanation for this beautiful effect for me and my twelve-year-old daughter? Thanks if you can.
May 4, 2011 at 7:14 am |
Is anyone able to offer an explanation for the effect for me and my daughters?
May 4, 2011 at 11:18 am
Its called “simple harmonic motion”:http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/pend.html
As the string lengths vary at regular intervals, so will the resonant frequencies of the pendulums.
May 4, 2011 at 2:40 pm
So is this kind of like watching a queue of traffic in front of you waiting to turn right (for arguments sake) and their inticator lights flash out of time but gradually get closer and then flash perfectly in time for a moment then goes back out of sync?
May 4, 2011 at 8:22 pm
Thanks guys for taking the trouble to reply. Much appreciated.
May 4, 2011 at 7:24 am |
in hindi (INDIAN language) we call it “DHANSOO!!” , roughly translates as incredible
May 4, 2011 at 7:32 am |
The pendulums are all different lengths, from short to long. The period of a pendulum depends on its length, and so they all have slightly different periods.
They all oscillate with their characteristic period, and the patterns you see are as they go in and out of (temporary) sync with each other. They are all operating as separate pendulums – that they are all attached to one long metal bar is not significant.
May 4, 2011 at 7:39 am |
Swingtastic. I wonder if acrobatic physicists could replicate it on high wires?
May 4, 2011 at 7:44 am |
Absolutely gorgeous. Love it.
May 4, 2011 at 7:52 am |
Wow! It makes me feel like I wish I knew the physics of why that happens.
May 4, 2011 at 7:56 am |
I feel awesomed.
May 4, 2011 at 7:58 am |
Yes, but can it click in an annoying fashion on a secretary’s desk?
May 4, 2011 at 8:03 am |
Ah, good ol T = 2*pi*SQRT(L/g).
D
May 4, 2011 at 8:03 am |
Damn emoticons…
May 4, 2011 at 8:04 am |
Beautiful! For a flash animation of a chromatic musical version, see
http://wheelof.com/whitney/
May 4, 2011 at 8:17 am |
Thank you for posting this! I found great inspiration in it for a post of my own.
May 4, 2011 at 8:18 am |
[...] Via Richard Wiseman, a beautiful video of pendulums: [...]
May 4, 2011 at 8:18 am |
[...] Via Richard Wiseman, a beautiful video of pendulums: [...]
May 4, 2011 at 9:03 am |
Oh wow man. How so I build one?
May 6, 2011 at 2:33 pm
Use these pendulum lengths (in cm): 34.358, 33.049, 31.814, 30.647, 29.542, 28.497, 27.505, 26.565, 25.672, 24.824, 24.016, 23.248, 22.516, 21.818, and 21.152 cm. The values have too many decimal places because my gravitational constant was only accurate to one decimal place but they should get you close. You’ll want to have a mechanism to shift the lengths slightly anyway. These lengths should get you from 51 to 65 oscillations per minute in 15 steps.
May 4, 2011 at 9:04 am |
Soothed and realaxed or chillaxed .
May 4, 2011 at 12:24 pm |
Mesmerizing!
One can learn about acoustic beats by dry formula, but this is a beautiful manifold illustration.
May 4, 2011 at 1:09 pm |
It makes me feel periodically repetitive.
May 4, 2011 at 1:30 pm |
I love maths.
May 4, 2011 at 2:20 pm |
WOW! Wonderful!
May 4, 2011 at 2:37 pm |
Wow, absolutely beautiful. I love how just when you thought the pattern had broken down, it re-emerged from the seeming chaos.
May 4, 2011 at 2:39 pm |
If a pendulum’s swinging quite free,
It’s always a marvel to me,
That each tick plus each tock
Of the grandfather clock
Is 2 pi root L over g.
May 4, 2011 at 2:40 pm |
Well done–I remember seeing this in a physics class more than 50 years ago, and learned from it why planets are in their particular orbits (based on size, weight, etc); this definitely gets rid of the fable of an “unseen hand” controlling anything. This is refreshing.
May 5, 2011 at 12:54 pm
It’s actually even simpler than that – weight/mass doesn’t have any effect on either the pendulum or the orbits (other than the controlling gravitational field, eg the earth for the pendulum or the sun for a solar system orbit), it’s the same principle that makes two different objects fall at the same rate. One of the big questions in physics is whether gravitational mass and inertial mass are the same, and experiments like this so far suggest that it is.
May 4, 2011 at 2:43 pm |
Incredible, science made so visible… I think I am going to recreate this for our visitors to the observatory…
May 4, 2011 at 2:47 pm |
Makes me feel like I’m watching an old-school oscilloscope (http://www.barrytech.com/tektronix/vintage/tek535afront.jpg, e.g.) that isn’t synchronized.
May 4, 2011 at 2:48 pm |
[...] (Via Richard Wiseman) [...]
May 4, 2011 at 2:53 pm |
It seems to me, at first glance, that if you wanted to replicate this, the lengths of each pendulum must have a logarithmic relationship with the ones around it to reproduce this effect. I’d have to guess that if you haphazardly made each a little longer than the previous one, or even if you made each one a centimeter longer than the previous one, the effect wouldn’t match what we see in the video.
Does anyone have the math background to confirm this? Mine isn’t up to the challenge.
May 4, 2011 at 3:08 pm |
[...] Richardem Wisemanem. Ten wpis został opublikowany w kategorii Piękno. Dodaj zakładkę do bezpośredniego [...]
May 4, 2011 at 6:12 pm |
and THAT is why I love physics!!
May 4, 2011 at 6:45 pm |
Physics is cool. I want one of these pendulums. i could watch this for hours.
May 4, 2011 at 6:46 pm |
Thanks for linking this!
May 4, 2011 at 7:19 pm |
Ooh! I want one. WAY more interesting than reality TV.
May 4, 2011 at 10:09 pm |
Harmonic.
May 4, 2011 at 10:24 pm |
From a female perspective (most replies seem to be men) I wouldn’t exactly call in ‘beautiful’… it’s interesting and clever but I think it might be a man thing to think it’s beautiful…
May 24, 2011 at 12:47 am
i think its beautiful and i’m female
May 4, 2011 at 10:50 pm |
Is this m-thoery?!
May 5, 2011 at 12:09 am |
[...] The most beautiful video ever? This is so simple and so beautiful…… [...]
May 5, 2011 at 4:19 am |
[...] Life is full of simple pleasures. Via Richard Wiseman: [...]
May 5, 2011 at 5:20 am |
[...] Life is full of simple pleasures. Via Richard Wiseman: [...]
May 5, 2011 at 5:39 am |
[...] Life is full of simple pleasures. Via Richard Wiseman: [...]
May 6, 2011 at 2:00 am |
So beautiful, it makes me feel like both patterns and randomness are part of the design once set in motion. Got to love math, physics, watching these patterns evolve. Thanks!
May 6, 2011 at 3:58 pm |
As I watched the video, I couldn’t help wondering if the balls would eventually sync back up. I was delighted to see them do exactly that. (Behave yourself, ball # 5). I found it most interesting how the brain finds patterns as three, four or five balls would appear to sync their swings. How does it make me feel? Joyous!
May 6, 2011 at 6:45 pm |
I think it’s amazing how our brain “wants” to see patterns everywhere.
May 7, 2011 at 9:20 am |
[...] Reminds me a bit of that pendulum thing that turned up recently. [...]
May 9, 2011 at 6:12 pm |
[...] die Richard Wiseman (via) mit „The most beautiful video ever?“ [...]
May 14, 2011 at 6:11 pm |
wow it’s very amazing thing
it’s alive >, <
May 15, 2011 at 10:37 am |
It make me feel like they are dancing and that just makes me smile….
May 20, 2011 at 7:44 pm |
I would like to see the balls slightly larger on further away strings, so that they all appeared to be identical in size.
August 16, 2011 at 8:09 pm |
[...] This post was Twitted by rosenlidholm [...]
September 28, 2011 at 1:31 pm |
wow… i can’t believe it !!
licitatii auto
October 27, 2011 at 11:18 pm |
[...] This post was Twitted by o__hendrik__o [...]