Wave Articulation Matrix¶

The Wave Articulation Matrix is composed of concentric steel cylinders. The simplest design uses four cylinders. More sophisticated devices
may have 6, 8, or any even number of cylinders.

All the cylinders have the same mass, and all the cylinders have the same surface area.

The length of the innermost cylinder is equal to the circumference of the outermost cylinder. The length of the outermost cylinder is equal to the circumference of the innermost.

From a Golden Spiral to Gabriel's Horn¶

I would like to show you how the geometry of the Fountain can be derived from a Golden Spiral.

Let's take a look at a Golden Spiral.

Fig. 1: A Golden Spiral

A Golden Spiral is a kind of Logarithmic Spiral. Its radius multiplies by the Golden Ratio every quarter cycle. In the picture, the Golden Ratio is written as the Greek letter Phi.

Just to make things simpler, let's have our Golden Spiral grow by a factor of Phi every complete cycle, instead of every quarter cycle. Let's also look at our spiral sideways, and allow it to exist in the dimension of time. Now what does it look like?

Fig. 2: A Golden Spiral in Time

The envelope of the wave on the right is an exponential curve; the amplitude of the wave is growing exponentially.

Can our wave grow in any other way? Yes. Its frequency can grow as well as its amplitude. Let's make a wave where each time it completes one cycle, its amplitude has multiplied by the Golden Ratio, and its period has been divided by the Golden Ratio. Now what does our wave look like?

Fig. 3: A Golden Spiral with a Hyperbolic Envelope

This wave has a hyperbolic envelope, not an exponential one, as before.