In chemistry, we have He, Fe and Ca—but what about do, re and mi? Hauntingly beautiful melodies aren't the first things that come to mind when looking at the periodic table of the elements. However, using a technique called data sonification, a recent college graduate has converted the visible light given off by the elements into audio, creating unique, complex sounds for each one. Today, the researcher reports the first step toward an interactive, musical periodic table.
The researcher will present his results at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society . ACS Spring 2023 is a hybrid meeting being held virtually and in-person March 26–30.
Previously, W. Walker Smith, the project's sole investigator, took his combined passions of music and chemistry and converted the natural vibrations of molecules into a musical composition."Then I saw visual representations of the discrete wavelengths of light released by the elements, such as scandium," says Smith."They were gorgeous and complex, and I thought, 'Wow, I really want to turn these into music, too.
Elements emit visible light when they are energized. This light is made up of multiple individual wavelengths, or particular colors, with brightness levels that are unique for each element. But on paper, the collections of wavelengths for different elements are hard to tell apart visually, especially for the, which can have thousands of individual colors, says Smith. Converting the light into sound frequencies could be another way for people to detect the differences between elements.
However, creating sounds for the elements on the periodic table has been done before. For instance, other scientists have assigned the brightest wavelengths to single notes played by the keys on a traditional piano. But this approach reduced the rich variety of wavelengths released by some elements into just a few sounds, explains Smith, who is currently a researcher at Indiana University.
To retain as much of the complexity and nuance of the element spectra as possible, Smith consulted faculty mentors at Indiana University, including David Clemmer, Ph.D., a professor in the chemistry department, and Chi Wang, D.M.A., a professor in the Jacobs School of Music. With their assistance, Smith built a computer code for real-time audio that converted each element's light data into mixtures of notes.
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