Vibration

The Stuff Life is made off

by Patrick Quanten MD

Everywhere in daily life there are frequencies of sound and electromagnetic waves, constantly changing and creating features of the visible and audible world familiar to everyone. Those are the obvious aspects of a wide range of frequencies that make up life as we know it. Any division is per definition artificial, because in nature it is part of a continuum. Radiowave frequencies lie below 3x109 Hz, microwave frequencies are between 3x109 and 3x1012 Hz. Next comes infrared with frequencies up to 4.3x1014 Hz, followed by the visible light up to 7.5x1014 Hz and the ultraviolet to 3x1017 Hz. Then it is X-Rays to 3x1019 Hz with above that frequency the gamma rays. What do these frequencies relate to? What do they mean?

In order to understand frequency, it is first necessary to comprehend two related varieties of movement: oscillation and wave motion. Both are examples of periodic motion, a movement that is repeated at regular intervals called periods. Oscillation and wave motion are also examples of harmonic motion, or the repeated movement of a particle about a position of equilibrium or balance.

In harmonic motion, and in some types of period motion, there is a continual conversion of energy between one form and another. On the one hand is potential energy, or the energy of an object due to its position in relation to its equilibrium, and hence its potential for movement. On the other hand, there is kinetic energy, the energy of movement itself. Any time an object is at a distance from a position of stable equilibrium, and some force (for instance, gravity) is capable of moving it to that position, it possesses potential energy. Likewise, a wave at its crest has potential energy, and gains kinetic energy as it moves towards its trough. Similarly, an oscillating object that is as far as possible from the stable equilibrium position has enormous potential energy, which dissipates as it begins to move toward stable equilibrium.

Vibration means to move back and forth in place. Oscillation is simply a more scientific term for vibration. Waves themselves are not merely vibrations, but they involve, and may produce, vibrations. In fact, the humane ear hears by interpreting vibrations resulting from sound waves. All matter vibrates at a molecular level, and every object possesses what is called "a natural frequency", which depends on its size, shape and composition.

Oscillation is a type of harmonic motion, typically periodic, in one or more dimensions. There are two basic types of oscillations: that of a swing or pendulum and that of a spring. In each case, an object is disturbed from a position of stable equilibrium and as a result it continues to move back and forth around that stable equilibrium position. If a spring is pulled from a stable equilibrium, it will generally oscillate along a straight path; a swing, on the other hand, will oscillate along an arc. In oscillation there is always a cycle in which the oscillating particle moves from a certain point in a certain direction, then reverses direction and returns to the original point. Usually a cycle is viewed as the movement from a position of stable equilibrium to one of maximum displacement, or the furthest possible point from stable equilibrium and back again. Because stable equilibrium is directly in the middle of a cycle, there are two points of maximum displacement: on a swing, this occurs when the object is at its highest point on either side of the stable equilibrium position, and on a spring, maximum displacement occurs when the spring is either stretched or compressed as far as it will go.

Wave motion is a type of harmonic motion that carries energy from one place to another without actually moving any matter. While oscillation involves the movement of "an object", a wave may or may not involve matter. Examples of a wave made out of matter - a mechanical wave - is a wave on the ocean or a sound wave, in which energy vibrates through a medium such as air. Even in the case of the mechanical wave, however, the matter does not experience any net displacement from its original position (water molecules do rotate but end up where they began). There are waves that do not follow regular, repeated patterns, but within the context of frequency, our principal concern is with period waves. These can be further divided into transverse and longitudinal waves. A transverse wave is the shape that most people imagine when they think of waves: a regular up and down pattern (called "sinusoidal") in which the vibration or motion is perpendicular to the direction the wave is moving. A longitudinal wave is one in which the movement of vibration is in the same direction as the wave itself. Though these are a little harder to picture, longitudinal waves can be visualised as a series of concentric circles emanating from a single point. Sound waves are longitudinal. Thus, when someone speaks, waves of sound vibrations radiate out in all directions.

There are certain properties of waves, such as wavelength, or the distance between waves, that are not properties of oscillation. However, both types of motion can be described in terms of amplitude, period and frequency. The first of these is not related to frequency in any mathematical sense. Nonetheless, where sound waves are concerned, both amplitude and frequency play a significant role in what people hear.

Amplitude, generally speaking, is the value of maximum displacement from an average value or position. Amplitude is "size". The size of the oscillation is the value of the object's maximum displacement from a position of stable equilibrium during a single period. In the case of a wave motion, amplitude is also the "size" of the wave, but the precise definition varies, depending on whether the wave in question is transverse or longitudinal. In the first instance, amplitude is the distance from either the crest or the trough to the average position between them. For a sound wave, which is longitudinal, amplitude is the maximum value of pressure change between the waves.

Unlike amplitude, period is directly related to frequency. For a transverse wave, a period is the amount of time required to complete one full cycle of the wave from trough to crest and back to trough. In a longitudinal wave, a period is the interval between waves. With an oscillator, a period is the amount of time it takes to complete one cycle.

Frequency in oscillation is the number of cycles per time unit, and in wave motion, it is the number of waves that pass through a given point per time unit. Cycles per second are called Hertz (Hz).

As noted earlier, the volume of any sound is related to the amplitude of the sound waves. Frequency, on the other hand, determines the pitch or tone. Though there is no direct correlation between intensity and frequency, in order for a person to hear a very low-frequency sound, it must be above a certain decibel level. The range of audibility for the humane ear is from 20 Hz to 20.000 Hz. The optimal range for hearing, however, is between 3.000 and 4.000 Hz.

Each note has its own frequency. Middle C, for instance, is 264 Hz. But in order to produce what people understand as music, it is necessary to employ principles of harmonics, which express the relationships between notes. These mathematical relationships between musical notes are among the most intriguing aspects of the connection between art and science. Middle C, located approximately in the middle of a piano keyboard, is the starting point of a basic musical scale. It is called the fundamental frequency, or the first harmonic. The second harmonic, one octave above middle C, has a frequency of 528 Hz, exactly twice that of the first harmonic; and the third harmonic has a frequency of 792 Hz or three times that of middle C. And so it goes on.

The portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, frequencies much higher than the hearing range, that people perceive, the sunlight, is only a small part of it. The frequency range of visible light is from 4.3x1014 Hz to 7.5x1014 Hz. Each of the colours has a frequency, and the value grows higher from red to orange and so through to yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. Beyond violet is ultraviolet, which human eyes cannot see. Only at the low end of the electromagnetic spectrum, with frequencies below about 1010 Hz, do wavelengths become the size of everyday objects. The center of the microwave range, for instance, has a wavelength of about one meter (3.28ft), a frequency of about 3x1010 Hz. At this end of the spectrum, which includes television and radar (microwaves), short-wave radio, and long-wave radio, there are numerous segments devoted to various types of communication. The division of these sections of the electromagnetic spectrum are arbitrary and manmade.

Back to notes and vibrational basics!

A note is a single tone, pitch or frequency. A chord is any two notes played simultaneously. All chords produce certain sounds which are unique because whenever two notes are played together, a third note is also heard. This third note is not inherent in either note but only as a synergetic consequence of their unity, constructed in the brain. These secondary notes (second level iteration of the first notes) interact with one another and create tertiary notes, and so on to infinity.

The notes within any note are the iteration of the harmonic series. The "composite" note, originating from the vibrating string for instance, contains within itself other notes by way of this harmonic subdivision. Were we able to hear "down" into the note, we would be able to identify other notes which have specific whole-number ratios (Pythagoras) to the original note. Notes that have a frequency of 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, and so on compared to the frequency of the first note, are an essential part of the "harmonious" note we actually hear, and the lower the numbers involved in the ratios, the more pleasing the tone to the human psyche. However, each new generation of notes has less volume than the previous and fades into the background after so many. Even so, a part of you can sense the presence of nearly subliminal notes. Pluck a string and you get a complex wave composed of all harmonics of the root note. The different standing waves corresponding to different fractions are called harmonics.

The same harmonic (father, children, grandchildren) subdivisioning that happens in musical notes and chords happens in any situation where vibrational events are intersecting, including atomic vibration. The wave interactions and phase cancellations that happen in a musical chord are the very same ones that govern ways which molecules will bond or repel, which waves on the ocean will pass through others, and what gravitational orbits the planets fall into, among other things.

When a vibration or wave reflects off of something, such as another wave, it can interfere with its own reflection. The interference is alternately constructive or destructive as the two waves move past each other. This creates a standing wave. Only waves with certain frequencies can create standing waves. This is because the distance from one node to the next must always be some fraction of the total length, in other words, form a harmonic series.

All objects have a frequency or set of frequencies with which they naturally resonate. Each of the natural frequencies at which an object vibrates is associated with a standing wave pattern. When an object is forced into resonance vibrations at one of its natural frequencies, it vibrates in a manner such that a standing wave is formed within the object. So the natural frequencies of an object are merely the harmonic frequencies at which standing wave patterns are established within the object. These standing wave patterns represent the lowest energy vibrational modes of the object or complex system. While there are countless ways by which an object can vibrate (each associated with a specific frequency), objects favour only a few specific modes or patterns of vibrating. Those are the ones which result in the highest amplitude vibrations with the least input of energy. Those are what the natural balance of that object is based upon. All other frequencies or combinations of disturb the harmony.

A protein will have a few "preferred" resonant frequencies, each of which will be the result of a harmonic series incorporating the preferred frequencies of each of the molecules that make up the protein. Similarly, each molecule, that is part of the make-up of that protein, vibrates at frequencies which contain within itself the frequencies of its atoms, which hold within its own harmonic series the resonant frequencies of its elements. This means that a "living" object can only function to its highest ability when it is in "harmony" with all the elements that make up the whole.

It is indeed the case that the vibrational frequency of electrons is higher than those of the atoms to which they belong. An electron has a greater "freedom" to move, is less likely to become "fixed" in one point. Molecules become even slower than atoms. They are, so to speak, more "solid" and more likely to be found in one place. The lower the vibrational frequencies, the heavier the elements and the less likely it is they will be seen as a wave and the more likely it becomes they are found to be particles. The more complex a system becomes in the sense of the more layers of resonant frequencies it incorporates, the more fixed it becomes in its energy field and consequently the more materialistic it shows up. Subsequent harmonic series result in a lowering of the resonant frequencies, and the less something vibrates the more solid it becomes. That is why adding heat to a liquid such as water induces a higher frequency and the liquid water molecules "disappear" into thin air, because the coherent force between them lessens as a result of the increased movement of its elements, which in turn is duet o the higher frequency each molecule vibrates at, although they all still vibrate at a resonance which keeps the molecules together and they consequently can still be identified as water molecules..

The more harmony there is within a system, the lower its vibrational frequency.

If we have a look at simple electroencephalographic recordings of the normal human brain, we find a somewhat asymmetrical pattern of what has been called alpha-waves, which are sinusoidal and have a frequency of 8 to 12 Hz. From the moment the subject opens the eyes or fixes the attention on something, faster waves of higher than 13 Hz with a lower amplitude, called beta-waves, appear instantly. So, the more brain activity there is, whether from outside or inside origin, the waves change to a faster rhythm with reduced size. This pattern we observe in our breathing as well, where a relaxed pattern shows deep breathes at a very slow rhythm, while this changes with any kind of activity to a more superficial breathe at a faster rate. It is interesting to note that when people fall asleep naturally, the rhythm of brain waves slows symmetrical, interspersed with sharp waves and sleep spindles; if, however, the sleep is induced by medication, an increase in the fast frequencies is seen. This proves that you may get more sleep on medication but you don't get any rest!

The more relaxed we are the lower the frequency of our brain waves. This suggests a better and more wholesome integration of all frequencies of the parts that make up the entire system. From the moment we begin any kind of activity, including having a series of thoughts, parts of the system that are supporting the said activity will have to function in a different way and will therefore no longer be fully co-ordinated and in harmony with all other parts. The greater the integration of all parts, the lower the frequency of vibration of the whole. This means that striving for more harmony we should concentrate on reducing our vibrational level, not increasing it as many spiritual development courses imply. It is through the lower frequencies that we pass into a different realm. Frequencies of 2 and 3 Hz are commonly seen in coma conditions, and sometimes all organised electrical activity seizes. The electroencephalograms of deep sleep and light coma resemble each other. One follows on from the other, and both are on the way to total harmony of all parts of the structure, which then alters life from the physical form we have known.

So, life starts with low vibrational frequencies, which increase with growing up and increased activity, in order to slow down again as we get older, and to near the zero point as we come close to our physical death. It is through the zero vibration that we slip into a different realm of life. Our goal in this life is to reach zero and pass through it. That is our natural path, and the more we have ourselves aligned with that, the more we are used to living lower frequencies, the greater the harmony within our life, and the easier the transition will be.

Life and death, it is all in the frequency of vibration and in the harmonics of all parts that constitute the living matter.

If you care, you slow down today.

June 2007