Evening Star Newspaper, April 19, 1931, Page 82

GRAI Lo How a Johns Hopkins University Pro- fessor Transposes Vibrations of Atoms Into Musical Scores to Make New Har- monies Which You CanPlay on Your Piano. BY D. LINDSAY WATSON, PH. D. AVE you ever tried gasoline on your piano? Or alcohol? Or water? This is not a household hint, but a contribution to science. For Dr. Donald H. Andrews of Johns Hopkins University has transposed the vibrations of chemical atoms, written them as music and played them as modernistic musical chords and runs. The melody of the gasoline that runs your suto is frankly reminiscent of jazz—it reminds one of the “Rhapsody in Blue.” ‘Water, played by Dr. Andrews, is a pleasing ripple on the upper notes of the piano, like & waterfall, clear and sparkling. Alcohol gives a rich, resonant chord, dreamy and seductive. Every chemical substance sings a song of its own which can be written and played as music. By this fact & new source of thematic material is opened up to the composer. By reversing the process the skeptical chemist may find that favorite melodies or chords can be transiated into chemical formulae. The analysis of familiar music, in the light HYSICISTS have given a lot of attention to those lines, for they give a means of telling what sort of vibrations are going on in the light and in the substance they come from. They can be photographed and thus recorded. A spectrum photograph is a sort of finger- print of the light-producing atom or molecule. Each line or color in the spectrum corresponds to a definite rate of vibration in the substance. Different colored lights differ only in frequency or number of vibrations. By measuring the distance between the va- rious lines the scientist can tell exactly what contortions the parts of the light-emitting molecule are undergoing. Several methods of cross-questioning the molecule are employed. Dr. Andrews has been THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, APRIL 19, atest—CHEMI Try this over on your piano. Dr. D. H. Andrews of number of vibrations made each second by some part of the molecule. Models were constructed at the Johns Hop- kins laboratory by Dr. Andrews and others to belp in explaining these vibrations. The molecule models were made of steel balls and springs. Dr. Andrews played with these quiver- ing models a while and found that by trans- posing the Raman “shift”-vibrations the various natural vibrations of the model could be ob- tained. The Raman spectrum is the physicist's musical sccre of the atomic symphony. The success of this work gave Dr. Andrews the idea of transposing the spectra into sound vibrations. Sound, like light, is also a vibration; but in & different physical medium, the air. The vi- brations of light travel in the ether, whose real nature is still a mystery to physicists. ‘There is another important difference between sound and light. The vibrations of the parts of a molecule causing light waves are about & million million million times more in each second than ordinary for sound vibrations, Sound vibrations begin in the vocal cords or instrument and travel out as waves. Noise is frregular vibration. Music is rhythmically re- curring vibration, anywhere from 20 to 15,000 cycles per second. Twenty would be a scarcely asudible rumble, 15,000 the shrillest squeak. 1931. alcohol. No, it isn’t “Sweet Adeline.” TH!: transposition of the Raman spectrum on to a musical scale offers no real difficulty. The answer of most scientists to the proposal to do this would “What of it?” or “Why bother?” So they never tried it. And thus it was left to Dr. Andrews to wonder if perhaps hidden harmonies are to be found in the spectra. For the essence of harmony is in the relations be- tween the vibrations of the several notes, not in the actual number of vibrations of a single tone. By a simple trick, it is pcssible to get a very good idea of what atoms would sound like if we could tune our ears to them. Dr. Andrews noticed that the Raman frequencies when di- vided by a constant number, 30,000,000,000 (which is the velocity of light), gave rates of vibration corresponding to notes at the top of the piano keyboard. These are well known to physicists as the wave-numbers of the lines. By reducing these musical notes two octaves the whole spectrum can be brought to the mid- dle of the plano. A “light-sound” table based on Dr. Andrews’ figures shows how this is done. The eagerness with which Dr. Andrews transiated some well known Raman spectra of substances by this means on to the musical clefs may well be imagined. Now, for the first L] Working out the overture to & chemical opera. A violinist tries his hand at some of the music produced by vibrating atoms in common chemicals. Johns Hopkins University plays the music produced by a molecule of time, man would hear the “music of the spheres.” Benzine, water, alcohol, gasoline and wood alcohol were among the first substances tried. Decidedly characteristic and sometimes pleasing effects were obtained. Wood alcohol, in sharp contrast to the grain alcohol, had a vicious sound curiously in keeping with its drastic ef- fects. A significant link between chemistry and music has thus been forged. To every chemical substance there corresponds a Raman spectrum and, therefore, & possible combination of musi- cal notes. The notes for a given substance can be writ- ten or played as a chord, that is simultaneously, or as & melody consecutively. How much of the strange relations between our common expe- rience of these substances and their atomie chords is due to coincidence and how much to Dr. Andrews’ musical art it is not easy to say >fThand, Composers who seem to be hard put to it to unearth bizarre material may be expected to welcome this unexpected assistance from science. Without making any assumption as to the significance of a given chord it is perfectly possible for them now to go in search of in- spiration to the laboratories of physical optics where the Raman spectra are being measured. Soon we may be listening to Gershwin's “Dimethyl-aniline Sonata.” ‘Wagner had a method in writing his operas which might well be used in this connection. He attached a theme to a person or idea and re- peated this theme each time this character or idea recurred. Such themes might well be chosen from the Raman spectra by a composer, The entrance of the snappy vamp, for in- stance, would be heralded by the chord of iron oxide, Fe: Os (or rouge) played by the oboe. A cold in the head would be symbolized by the aspirin motif, the heroine by geranial, a con- t of rose perfume, a mosquito by citro- nella, chords of alcohol and gasoline would no doubt find wide use in a modern composi- AH. this may seem far removed from “serious science.” But suppose you look back again for & moment. f Why do some combinations of tones sound pleasant, others harsh and discordant? This question has been a puzle to physicists and philosophers throughout history. Pythagoras, the ancient Greek philosopher, was fairly near the answer when he sought for the causes of harmony in the occult miraculous power of numbers—especially simple numbers. “In listening to music,” said Leibnitz, cele-