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Synchronization of Metronomes

Harvard Natural Sciences Lecture Demonstrations · 660.5K views · 2010-06-08 · 1:49

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Overview

A Harvard lecture demonstration in which five metronomes on a movable board gradually fall into synchronization through coupling. Removing the coupling lets them drift out of step.

On Hacker News

Cited as the canonical visual demonstration of coupled oscillators synchronizing, applied to analogies from brain waves to LLM populations.

Discussed on HN; no positive recommendation is recorded in this export · HN mentions 2017–2025

Topics

Everyday physics & science demosFundamental physics
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metronomessynchronizationcoupled oscillatorsphysics demoresonance

What people said

roenxi · 2025-10 · Reference

You might find some inspiration in this video of metronomes synchronising and desynchronysing [0]. It doesn't take much to cause things to happen at the same time, in the case the CEOs are likely all responding to the same market signals at the same time for the same reason. Probably interest rates. [0] [VIDEO]

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Animats · 2025-05 · Reference

That may be reading too much into this behavior. Watch this video of metronomes self-synchronizing.[1] That's a pervasive phenomenon. Anything with similar oscillation frequency and coupling will do this. (Including polling systems with fixed retry intervals.) Are you sure that's not just this effect? [1] [VIDEO]

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Animats · 2023-06 · Reference

Everything that oscillates at roughly the same frequency and has some coupling synchronizes.[1] No surprise here. [1] [VIDEO]

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Sources

Video by Harvard Natural Sciences Lecture Demonstrations, played through YouTube.

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