How can sound waves move objects? Science answers!

Music is a manifestation of energy that can touch the emotions of the listeners, but it is not limited to affecting emotions only. The power of sound is not only used to captivate the listener; Science shows that sound waves are so powerful that they can even physically move objects from side to side.

It is not surprising that this area is constantly studied in different fields of science. For example, there is research trying to use sound waves as a way to manipulate microscopic particles.

American physicist Arthur Ashkin won the Nobel Prize in Physics for inventing a similar technology. He created optical tweezers that use lasers to manipulate these microscopic particles.

Although optical tweezers represent a major innovation, some scientists believe that the technology has many limitations because it requires highly controlled conditions to work properly. A recent study A team from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland has suggested that it is possible to achieve a similar result using sound waves.

EPFL researchers emphasize that the new method is completely inspired by the optical technology of the Nobel Prize-winning author. This technology can be used in biomedicine, especially in non-invasive applications for drug administration. The study was published in the scientific journal Nature Physics.

The research was conducted jointly with scientists from EPFL as well as the University of Bordeaux (France), Nazarbayev University (Kazakhstan) and Vienna University of Technology (Austria).

“Optical tweezers work by creating a ‘hot spot of light’ to capture particles, just like a ball falling into a hole. But if there are other objects nearby, that hole is difficult to create and move,” said the head of the Engineering Laboratory. Waves from EPFL’s School of Engineering and Romain Fleury, one of the paper’s authors.

Sound waves move objects

The team led by Fleury, together with EPFL postdoctoral researchers Bakhtiyar Orazbayev and Matthieu Malléjac, devoted nearly four years to understanding this issue. dynamics of controlling small objects using sound wave technology.

To make objects move with sound, researchers need only one piece of information: the object’s location.. They explain that the physical properties of the object and the properties of the environment do not affect the result.

During the experiment, a ball floated on top of a tank filled with water. Its position was detected by a camera, and according to sound waves emitted from a series of speakers, the ball began to move according to the waves.

It’s as if the sound is pushing the ball in another direction. In other words, he doesn’t float the ball directly, he carries it to another place.

According to scientists, the method is based on conservation of momentum, similar to the game of ice hockey: the ball is on a surface and the sound waves work like a rod moving the ball across the ice. The study states that this is the first application to use sound waves to move an object, inspired by the Nobel Prize-winning optical technique.

The researchers explain that the method may represent an advance in the field of biological analysis and tissue engineering. In this context, It will be possible to perform manipulations without touching the cells, avoiding any risk of contamination or physical damage. They also moved other objects, such as paper origami, in tests.

“Some drug delivery methods already use sound waves to release encapsulated drugs, so this technique is particularly attractive for pushing a drug directly into tumor cells, for example,” Fleury said. he said.

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