Equipment for scientific tests

[russdm]

So, for a scifi book I was going to write, I was mentioning something happening for bit of a science project. I did want to determine what would happen, and actually test it out. Just to be sure. That does mean I need to get some equipment and I know some I will need: Some kind of tuning fork or speaker that can be made to produce vibrations at a certain speed/frequency, several bits of iron or whatever else I test, ways of applying tuning fork/speaker to the bits of iron, and of course a camera to record everything. I am planning to get a camera, and I am thinking of getting maybe an RC car for testing.

The science project will demonstrating what happens when you apply something vibrating at the same atomic weight of material, say iron, in frequency, and seeing what happens. One thing to know would be weather this has been tested already for determining what happens. I would like to find out, so this part is scientifically accurate. Has any tests been conducted on any elements of this nature? Or am I in uncharted scientific waters?

How would I or what should I research for putting together experiments so I can test? I already have a place to test. I have plans for some other different kinds of tests as well, such as combining certain materials and would want to know if it would be easier combining liquids or solids be easier?

Any advice or comments would be welcome, and thank you in advance.

[Trekkin]

The science project will demonstrating what happens when you apply something vibrating at the same atomic weight of material, say iron, in frequency, and seeing what happens.

I'm sorry, but I cannot fathom what you could mean here. Do you mean iron's NMR frequency (in which case you should bear in mind that ⁵⁷Fe is not easy to do NMR on), the resonant frequency of a given chunk of iron (which is of course dependent on geometry) or something else entirely?

Put another way, what frequency would you want to test iron at?

[russdm]

Was thinking of testing it using it's Atomic Weight for a single molecule.

[Trekkin]

Was thinking of testing it using it's Atomic Weight for a single molecule.

Okay, but 55.845 amu is not a frequency. How are you converting it to a frequency?

If you mean to oscillate the iron at 55 Hz, what you will get is iron that is humming slightly. There is no direct relationship between an element's atomic mass and how it responds to vibration. Why did you think there would be?

[Dodom]

We might be more capable of giving you useful answers if you described the effect you hope to obtain.

Until then, what you describe does evocate resonance, with one of the best known demonstrations being opera singers shattering crystal glasses. Here it's done in the wild:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnTJLRWwmso
And for more controlled conditions, also with a strobe light to better see the deformations:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47cPhhywvOo

We'll really be more helpful if you said what you want to do instead of describing how you think it might work. Don't worry, that won't allow anyone to steal your book idea, stories are about more than a single gimmick!

[russdm]

I was trying to figure out what happens if you were to tune something to vibrate using the frequency that matches up with a molecule's atomic weight. I didn't know/think that had been tested, in air or using the hydrogen line for sending messages. So, I would take a chunk of iron and apply a tuning fork(similar object) to see what happens.

The other would be adding some chemicals together. To see if anything gets produced.

[Dodom]

Well then, Trekkin has a point saying you won't find a straight equivalency between atomic weight and vibration, because an object's resonance frequency depends on its rigidity and length, regardless of the actual molecules inside it.

Using air to transmit messages in the form of vibrations is commonly known as "sound" and does have interesting properties, but I'm under the impression you mean something different. There are surprising applications to sound, and yes it behaves differently in different materials, so if you want your story to revolve around a newly discovered property of it, it would be a good topic to start researching.

Now your insistence on atomic weight makes me think you mignt be refering to something like molecular vibration, but those frequencies are a bit too quick to interfere with using sound, they're more apt to be toyed with using electromagnetic waves, mostly infrared light.

That's what I can think of working from what you said.

[Brother Oni]

The closest thing I can think of that russdm is trying to achieve are a variant of Chladni figures, but the way the metal vibrates (or doesn't) is highly dependent on its shape.

It's also not a new property - bells have been made for centuries with knowledge of metal resonance affects sound.

[Me1000]

So, for a scifi book I was going to write, I was mentioning something happening for bit of a science project. I did want to determine what would happen, and actually test it out. Just to be sure. That does mean I need to get some equipment and I know some I will need: Some kind of tuning fork or speaker that can be made to produce vibrations at a certain speed/frequency, several bits of iron or whatever else I test, ways of applying tuning fork/speaker to the bits of iron, and of course a camera to record everything. I am planning to get a camera, and I am thinking of getting maybe an RC car for testing.

The science project will demonstrating what happens when you apply something vibrating at the same atomic weight of material, say iron, in frequency, and seeing what happens. One thing to know would be weather this has been tested already for determining what happens. I would like to find out, so this part is scientifically accurate. Has any tests been conducted on any elements of this nature? Or am I in uncharted scientific waters?

How would I or what should I research for putting together experiments so I can test? I already have a place to test. I have plans for some other different kinds of tests as well, such as combining certain materials and would want to know if it would be easier combining liquids or solids be easier?

Any advice or comments would be welcome, and thank you in advance.

I dont know this stuff but i often find You tube tutorials can help. Have you tried that? Perhaps someone has tried doing what you are looking for

[Khedrac]

Another thing to remember is that both time and mass are fairly arbitrary units.
Pretty much all common use SI units are chosen to be something we can measure (nearly) exactly that is very close to a historical unit that people are familiar with. In fact the kilogram is still defined as the mass of the reference kilogram because we cannot come up with another definition that quite matches it!

So atomic mass = arbitrary value
Frequency = integer beats per arbitrary time period

Therefore any vibration of an element could be said to do what you want to test, just using different units of mass and time...

[Yora]

Now your insistence on atomic weight makes me think you mignt be refering to something like molecular vibration, but those frequencies are a bit too quick to interfere with using sound, they're more apt to be toyed with using electromagnetic waves, mostly infrared light.

Soo... laser cooling? Or is that something else?

[Eldan]

Another thing to remember is that both time and mass are fairly arbitrary units.
Pretty much all common use SI units are chosen to be something we can measure (nearly) exactly that is very close to a historical unit that people are familiar with. In fact the kilogram is still defined as the mass of the reference kilogram because we cannot come up with another definition that quite matches it!

So atomic mass = arbitrary value
Frequency = integer beats per arbitrary time period

Therefore any vibration of an element could be said to do what you want to test, just using different units of mass and time...

I was about to say, yes. Time, and therefore frequency, is an arbitrary unit, as is mass. I'd not expect them to show up in something like this.