The in-depth study of sound reveals something very interesting about the true nature of the Universe. Modern science describes how the Universe began with the “Big Bang“, exploding into existence and expanding into everything we’ve come to know. In the endeavour to understand existence, humans have made many observations over the millennia and in recent history discovered the Electro-Magnetic (EM) spectrum; to which we owe much of our modern existence and technology. Within the EM spectrum is Radio waves, Microwaves, Visible light, Infrared light, Ultraviolet light, Radiation such as; X-rays and Gamma rays. Although sound is not a direct component of the Electro-Magnetic spectrum, it is vibrational waves passed through a medium, such as air, as a result of a source causing the vibration. For example, a snare drum hit, a piano key press, a singing voice. There can of course be many sources generating the vibration through air some deliberate in their tonality and others as a result of the hustle and bustle of life, such as traffic noise, collisions and ad infinitum.

The common themes between sound and the EM spectrum is the concept of waves. Sound waves are a common concept, displacing particles of a medium as the energy is transferred from one particle to the next varying in intensity creating a wave is it moves the particles. The displaced particles are detected by the ear and interpreted by the brain as sound. What’s more interesting is when certain frequencies of sound are played through a more dense medium such as sand or water, an interesting phenomena can be observed. Scatter sand on a fairly thin metal plate, known as a Chladni plate, strike a certain place on the edge of the plate with a bow or attach a frequency generator with crocodile clips and vibrate the plate with certain frequencies and amazing patterns will be produced in the sand. The phenomena is known as Cymatics and is caused when the resonant frequencies of the plate organise particles into fascinating patterns, based on where the plate is vibrating and areas where it is not vibrating. The sand tends to organise itself - as a result of the vibration - to the areas where there is no vibration. Below is an example of a simple demonstration that can be done at home.

The above example was obtained by gently holding the edge of the plate using the finger nail at the half way point and striking a violin bow quite near the bottom corner on the opposite side. By adjusting where the plate is being held and stimulated from, different patterns are produced as different resonant frequencies are generated. The pattern shown above is the pattern produced from the fundamental frequency of the plate, the lowest frequency that can be generated by the plate. The above pattern appears at approximately 256Hz, additional patterns appear at the harmonic intervals of the fundamental frequency. A full explanation of frequency and harmonics are beyond the scope of this article, however, it is a well understood component of music theory and audio engineering for anyone interested in finding out more. Some examples of more complex “Chladni Figures“ are shown below.

Image Source: commons.wikimedia.org courtesy of Elmar Bergeler www.science-niblets.org [archived]. Creative Commons License.

The Cymatics patterns demonstrate how sound is behaving in less dense media. The patterns are aesthetically interesting but their fascination does not end there. Firstly, the geometry of these patterns follow a pattern found throughout nature known as the Golden Ratio or Phi. When something in nature forms it tends to develop outward following the Fibonacci sequence and the result is a consistent geometric ratio. The prevalence of this sequence is found throughout nature, both at the macro scale and the micro scale, and has led to Phi being considered “Sacred Geometry”. The Fibonacci Sequence is a mathematical pattern where a given number is the sum of the previous two numbers. For example, 0+1 = 1, 1 + 1 = 2, 2 + 1 = 3, 3 + 2 = 5, 5 + 3 = 8 so on and so forth, giving the sequence 0,1 ,1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34…. Dividing the number pattern, for example, 1 / 1 = 1, 2 / 1 = 2, 3 / 2 = 1.5, 5 / 3 = 1.6667 so and so forth, is where the “Golden Ratio“ is extracted. As you divide the numbers, particularly higher up in the Fibonacci sequence, the result is a close approximation to the irrational number Phi; who’s value is 1.618. 34 / 21 = 1.6190. Again, this mathematical phenomena is found throughout nature including the human body and was captured perfectly by Leonardo Da Vinci in his Vitruvian Man. Cymatics patterns follow the same mathematical pattern and distinctly show up in nature. Some examples are:- snowflakes, flower-heads, animal skins or shells, the ripples in sand dunes, waves in water, honeycomb lattices, the list goes on. Some interesting examples are show below.

By stimulating a dense medium such as sand or water with sound, Cymatics patterns are displayed as a result of the vibrations demonstrating how sound behaves in a variety of media. These patterns are present in everyday nature at all scales, containing geometry found consistently in nature. It suggests that the Electro-Magnetic spectrum, with it’s array of energy waves, may be stimulating nature in the same demonstrated fashion as sound stimulating sand or water. The consistent geometry and stable mathematics also suggest that it has been carefully considered; perhaps by intelligent design.

Cymatics in isolation does not provide all the answers, but broaden enquiry and it seems many sources point in the same direction. Several traditions and texts suggest sound, energy and vibration are a fundamental part of our reality; other scientific fields support this idea too. There are also practical uses for sound and vibration in health and wellbeing and there are even suggestions that it featured in ancient technology. More on all of these subjects in future articles.

Thank you for reading, Reliable Wisdom.