Uploaded March 2013 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Strange bedfellows, pendulum and oscillating ball, on a loose platform, achieve synchronization each time after one is deliberately made to stop moving.
Huygens discovered the phenomenon of synchronization with two pendulums; the term 'Huygens Synchronization' is used here in a broad sense.
In 1665 Christiaan Huygens, the Dutch scientist who had invented the pendulum clock, sent a letter to the Royal Society, describing synchronization ('sympathy') between two pendulum clocks when suspended on a common medium by the side of each other.
The model displayed in this video demonstrates synchronization of a metronome and an electrostatic oscillator that are closely coupled on an acrylic platform which can move freely in the direction of the motion. Four trials are shown, each begins with the metronome and the metal ball oscillating nearly out of phase with each other but few seconds later they achieve synchronization. The weight of the metronome's pendulum far exceeds that of the metal ball which weighs less than 3 hundredth of an ounce (0.85 grams). We know which one of the two is dominating the other.
A while ago the aluminum ball was as bright and shiny as a mirror, however its surface has oxidized after spinning for countless hours in electrostatic cyclotrons; therefore, its surface is dull gray now.
Watch a collection of Huygens synchronization devices in action at:
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCbYhDNjOviGPxYboeCqwggh3P2QjKkmm
#electrostaticmotor #PhaseLocking #CoupledOscillators #huygens
Strange bedfellows, pendulum and oscillating ball, on a loose platform, achieve synchronization each time after one is deliberately made to stop moving.
Huygens discovered the phenomenon of synchronization with two pendulums; the term 'Huygens Synchronization' is used here in a broad sense.
In 1665 Christiaan Huygens, the Dutch scientist who had invented the pendulum clock, sent a letter to the Royal Society, describing synchronization ('sympathy') between two pendulum clocks when suspended on a common medium by the side of each other.
The model displayed in this video demonstrates synchronization of a metronome and an electrostatic oscillator that are closely coupled on an acrylic platform which can move freely in the direction of the motion. Four trials are shown, each begins with the metronome and the metal ball oscillating nearly out of phase with each other but few seconds later they achieve synchronization. The weight of the metronome's pendulum far exceeds that of the metal ball which weighs less than 3 hundredth of an ounce (0.85 grams). We know which one of the two is dominating the other.
A while ago the aluminum ball was as bright and shiny as a mirror, however its surface has oxidized after spinning for countless hours in electrostatic cyclotrons; therefore, its surface is dull gray now.
Watch a collection of Huygens synchronization devices in action at:
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCbYhDNjOviGPxYboeCqwggh3P2QjKkmm
#electrostaticmotor #PhaseLocking #CoupledOscillators #huygens
