32 metronomes that begin out of sync end up synchronized

Grace Stanisci

Prepare to be mesmerized.

Posted on YouTube only two weeks ago, a video featuring 32 metronomes beginning out of sync and ending up completely in sync by the end of the clip has gone viral with over 1.25 million views.

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Viewers hypnotized by the clip have been struggling to understand how all 32 devices responsible for counting beats per minute can start off in their own rhythm and end up coming together.

Venturing a guess as to how the eventual synchronization occurred, one viewer commented on the clip, "[They] synchronize because of the [table's] ability to move sideways, right? It only needs 2-3 metronomes to be almost synchronous so their momentum transferred through the table synchronises the rest?"

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This guess is on the right track as a similar experiment done by the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Alaska Anchorage produced the same result, offering this explanation for the phenomenon:

"As one metronome's pendulum bob moves to the right, this pushes the base to the left (because of momentum conservation). The base moving to the left then pushes the other metronome's pendulum bob to the right---i.e. in the same direction as the first pendulum. Thus the slightly faster pendulum gives a kick (through the base) to the slower metronome causing the slower pendulum to speed up."

Isn't science fun?

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