Breaking a Wine Glass in Python by Detecting the Resonant Frequency
Resonance is an amazing thing. I was fixated on it for a while because it was something that fascinated Tesla. There was a story where he attaches a small hammer to a building which is tapping slowly and it shakes the building to its foundations. The Mythbusters have done a couple of shows on it as well (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZD8ffPwXRo" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZD8ffPwXRo</a>, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xODgR2FEKo" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xODgR2FEKo</a>)<p>Things I learned were that the crystal (and steel) structure are important because every bit of compliance in the system absorbs energy and turns it into heat rather than reflecting it back into the structure. Bricks work too if they are hard fired.<p>Finding the exact resonant frequency can be difficult as it can change as the system begins to vibrate. Sometimes the harmonics are better than the fundamental frequency. If I were doing this today I'd probably clips a strain gauge to the material and use a feedback loop to localize to the peak energy absorption frequency.