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🍾 Helmholtz Resonator

Interactive 3D bottle-shaped cavity where adjusting neck length, neck area and cavity volume changes the resonant frequency, demonstrated by a simulated air mass oscillating like a spring.

Acoustics2DModerate60 FPS

A 3D bottle-shaped cavity where the trapped air acts as a spring and the plug of air in the neck acts as a mass, oscillating at one dominant resonant frequency exactly like blowing across a bottle top.

🔬 What It Demonstrates

The resonant frequency depends on the neck's cross-sectional area, the neck's effective length (including end corrections), and the cavity's volume — the same spring-mass-damper physics as a mechanical oscillator.

🎮 How to Use

Adjust neck length, neck radius, cavity volume and air temperature to see the resonant frequency, note and wavelength update live. Click "Puff of air" to excite the resonator and watch the air mass oscillate and sound-wave rings spread from the neck.

💡 Did You Know?

Hermann von Helmholtz used bottle-shaped brass resonators in the 1860s to isolate single pitches from complex sounds — the same principle now tunes bass-reflex speaker ports and car mufflers.

⚙ Under the hood

Interactive 3D bottle-shaped cavity where adjusting neck length, neck area and cavity volume changes the resonant frequency, demonstrated by a simulated air mass oscillating like a spring.

helmholtz-resonatorresonancecavity-resonancesound-physicsacoustics

2D · HTML5 Canvas 2D · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install