DIY Basic Cymatics Machine

Step 1Take your plastic jar and use a scalpel or box cutter to create a hole in one of the sides big enough to slide your phone into snugly.
Step 2Cut a balloon in half and use the top piece to cover the top opening of the jar. Make sure the balloon is on tightly to create a flat, taught surface.
Step 3Cut a piece of masking tape long enough to wrap the whole way around the top of the jar and lay it on a flat surface sticky side up. Lay another piece of tape on top of this so both sticky sides are together, positioning it off centre so there are strips of stickiness on both sides. Fold one of these sides over onto itself so there is only 1 sticky edge.
Step 4Wrap the strip of tape around the top of the jar so the sticky side attaches it to the rim. Use extra tape if needed to hold it in place. This has now created a rim to hold the sand on top of the balloon surface.
Step 5Choose a sand colour that will contrast with the balloon colour and use a teaspoon to sprinkle a small amount onto the surface of the balloon.
Step 6You can now use your phone to play different frequency tones (we used the website szynalski.com/tone-generator/) and view how the sand moves. Have your phone unlocked and on the tone generator website, then slide it into the jar through the hole you created. Make sure the jar is sitting dead flat to get the full effect (you may need to prop your phone up with a lump of blue tac). Hit ‘play’ and use the slider to slowly progress through the frequencies. Observe the different ways in which the sand is effected by the change in frequency. Does it stop moving? Change direction? React more intensely? Or less intensely? Take notes on your findings.
Step 7Here are some photos of the different patterns we found. Some frequencies seemed to create lines, while others were more circles. There are many versions of cymatics out there and various methods that people have used to view the patterns created by sound. Use this basic look at cymatics as a starting point for a deeper exploration and research of the subject!