I’ve heard this term a lot as a musician. I’m aware that by finding an objects resonant frequency and playing that frequency it will break or smash, for example when singers break wine glasses with their voice, or the whole Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation thing. What is an object’s natural resonant frequency, how is it determined, and what happens to an object when you play it that makes things smash or break? Thanks!!
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The resonant frequency is the frequency an object will tend to vibrate at after being elastically deformed. Think of it like a swing, you push on one side and the swing will first swing to that side until it returns and then swings back and forth at a certain frequency. If you push against the moving swing while its moving towards you, you’ll brake the swing and remove energy from the system. If you push while the swing is moving away from you, you waste energy chasing the movement of the swing. But if you time your pushing so that you always push when the swing is at the turning point and momentarily not moving, you’ll be putting energy into the system most efficiently, making the swing go higher and higher. It works the same with a glass. You sing and the air pressure pushes against the glass, causing it to vibrate. If the frequency of the note you’re singing matches the frequency the glass is vibrating at, the peaks in air pressure will always push against the vibrating glass at the right time and put more and more energy into it, making the amplitude of the vibration larger and possibly causing it to eventually shatter.
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