IndexWaves, Chaos & MatterProduct
Faraday's Ripples
Plate 085 Physics Poster
Plate 85 speaks for itself: “Shake at f; it answers at f/2.”
The Physics
Shake a liquid layer up and down and above a threshold standing waves appear on its surface, oscillating at half the drive frequency. The shaking modulates effective gravity, a parametric resonance.
f_wave = f / 2
- f_wave: surface-wave frequency, Hz
- f: drive frequency, Hz
The waves oscillate at half the drive frequency. The mechanism: parametric resonance.
Sources
- M. Faraday, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. 121, 299 (1831).
- T. B. Benjamin, F. Ursell, Proc. R. Soc. A 225, 505 (1954).
On the poster
Plate 085, “Faraday's Ripples”: the pixel-art plate with its slogan “Shake at f; it answers at f/2.”, the key equation and the facts panel shown above. Pixelated Physics. Physics. Personified.
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