Machines are essential in the modern world, and natural frequencies and resonances have a significant impact on the stability of these mechanical systems. While resonance can cause mechanical failures and disasters, it can also be utilized to increase efficiency. Therefore, a thorough understanding of resonance is essential in engineering design.
Can you imagine life without machines? Modern people rely on machines for many aspects of their lives. We use subways, buses, and cars to commute to work, we fiddle with our phones when we’re bored, and we use washing machines to do our laundry. It’s hard to imagine life without them. If they disappeared, our lives would become very inconvenient. We would have to walk for hours to get to and from work, and chores would require more time. And it would take a lot of time to get information and news. As you can see, machines are making our lives easier and faster.
Just as machines play an important role in modern society, it’s also important to keep them reliable and maintained. In a world full of machines, it is essential that they are well-designed, reliable, and well-maintained so that they don’t break down. However, machines are very complex systems and can fail due to a number of factors. One of the most influential, but often overlooked, factors in machine failure is natural frequency and esonance phenomena.
These terms may seem unfamiliar to some, and others may think they’ve heard them before. However, few people can explain what exactly “resonance” and “natural frequency” are. The “natural frequency” of an object is simply its favorite frequency. Just like different people have different food preferences, different objects have different favorite frequencies. And just like one person might like pizza and another might like ramen noodles, each object can have multiple natural frequencies.
For the average person who hasn’t studied mechanical engineering or physics, these concepts may be a bit foreign. However, many of the phenomena we experience in our daily lives are actually related to these natural frequencies. When an external stimulus in the form of vibration is applied to an object, the object reacts according to the strength and frequency of the external stimulus. For example, try catching water in a basin and repeatedly striking the surface of the water. Depending on whether you hit the water fast or slow, or hard or soft, you will see different ripples on the surface. However, if the water in the basin is at your favorite frequency, your natural frequency, the ripples on the surface of the water will be very large, even if you hit it gently.
Think about when you give a person their favorite food and when you give them something else. The response will be the biggest when you give them their favorite food. Even if the amount of food is small, the response will be the largest when the favorite food is given. This phenomenon is known as the “esonance phenomenon,” which is when the frequency of an external stimulus matches the natural frequency of an object.
A typical example of an esonance phenomenon in everyday life is the vibration of a washing machine. When you wash your clothes in the washing machine, you may notice that it shakes violently and makes a noise. This is due to a resonance that occurs when the frequency of the washing machine’s motor matches the natural frequency of the washing machine itself. Another example is a TV program in which a singer breaks a cup using only her voice, which can also be explained by resonance. The frequency of the sound wave, which is the voice, matches the natural frequency of the cup, and resonance occurs.
These “esonance phenomena” go beyond mere everyday examples and can cause major disasters. For example, the Tacoma Bridge, which collapsed in 1940, was designed to withstand winds of 190 km/h, but was brought down by winds of only 70 km/h. This tragedy occurred because the wind’s frequency coincidentally coincided with the natural frequency of the Tacoma Bridge. The 1850 collapse of the Angers Bridge in France is also analyzed as a result of the ‘esonance phenomenon’.
This phenomenon can cause damage to our lives by breaking down machines and collapsing buildings. However, the principle of resonance is useful in many mechanical devices because it allows a small force to produce a large vibration. An example of this is tuning the frequency of a radio. When the frequency of the radio’s natural frequency matches the frequency of the radio waves emitted by the station, the electrical signal is amplified by resonance, and we can hear it clearly from a distance.
Furthermore, resonance plays an important role in the world of music. For example, when strings in an orchestra sound, the vibrations of other instruments resonate with them, creating a richer sound. This is a natural phenomenon in which instruments resonate with each other’s natural frequencies and the sound is amplified. Scientific principles can be the cause of catastrophic events, or they can be the tools that enrich and simplify our daily lives.
However, the scientific principles are not always obvious, and there may be things that are not taken into account when making products. This is why it takes a smart engineer to consider all possible scientific factors when designing and manufacturing an engineering system. With solid scientific knowledge, engineers can prevent unfortunate accidents from happening. I also believe that making products more efficient and comfortable is the most important task.
