Vibration, kinetics and cymatics: giving shape to movement
Sound is a vibration that travels through a medium. How it meets matter, surfaces and rooms can be studied through physics and felt through listening.
By Aime Nava
Three words in dialogue
Vibration describes an oscillating movement. Kinetics refers to movement and its physical relationships. Cymatics is the word used for the visible patterns that appear when a material responds to a vibration (Harvard; University of Colorado).
In architecture, the measurable part is key: reverberation, insulation, resonances and the transmission of vibrations affect speech clarity, privacy and acoustic comfort.
Is a frequency always good or bad?
No. Its effect depends on the intensity, the duration, the source, the material, the shape of the room and the person who hears it. Harmonic figures do not, by themselves, show that a frequency changes how we feel.
From LivenWe turn curiosity about vibration into concrete decisions on acoustics, materials, sound design and sensory atmospheres.
Sources
Harvard Natural Sciences Lecture Demonstrations: resonant plates (Chladni). sciencedemonstrations.fas.harvard.edu (opens in a new tab)
University of Colorado Boulder: Chladni figures (physics demonstrations). physicslabs.colorado.edu (opens in a new tab)