I make music for eyes, not ears.. Oops

Some of you might be very familiar with this quote by Adele "I make music for ears, not eyes".
If you don't know her yet you should go check her out.

Mr Krabs Listens to music with his eyes

Well I will be going to talk about music for eyes not ears.. o.o <-- wow your eyes sure is staring big now. Probably wondering what has music got to do with visuals?.and what is this jerk talking about?

I am talking about Ernst Chladni a physicist and a musician. By the way, I guess most physicist like the vibes of music... like our famous Albert Einstein who loves his violin..

Ernst Chladni invented a technique that allows us to visualise the different resonance on a given surface under a specific given frequency.

Chladni Figures

The technique requires one to draw a bow, like those you use for violin, across the edge of metal plate. The sand or salt covering the plate will resonate and concentrate on the nodal lines.. different frequency will result in the different formations of nodal lines.

Nodal lines are area which separates the opposite directional wave, like the red dots below.




These nodal patterns formations are also known as Chladni Figures.
So why is this important? Ain't they only patterns?

They are useful in the context of acoustic engineering especially when designing a acoustic instrument. A well designed plate will result in a better quality sounding music instrument.

Additional information:
Do you know? Chladni's creation of Cristal Baschet was inspired by Franklin's glass harp.

Comments are welcome and encouraged. :)