Soliton Soundscape

About this app

Soliton Soundscape shows solitary waves, called solitons, as bright animated curves, and turns them into sound. Two kinds of wave move to the right across a plot. The taller, faster wave overtakes the smaller one. After the collision, both waves come out shifted from the paths they would take alone.

How to use it:

1. Launch a low, slow pulse first.
2. Launch a high, slow pulse behind it.
3. Watch the collision. Thin dashed curves show the paths without a collision. Solid curves show the waves after the collision. A gold curve shows the combined result.
4. Read the phase shift. A positive shift means that the wave came out early. A negative shift means that the wave was delayed.

For the next wave, set the amplitude, width, base speed, nonlinearity, base frequency and volume. For the clearest view, set the base speed near 0.05 and turn on extra slow motion. Turn on the sound to hear a tone from the combined wave. The sound plays only while the waves move. Use a comfortable volume.

This is an educational model of the phase shift. It is not a full numerical solver of one wave equation.

You do not need an account. When you sign in, the app keeps your settings for next time. The app works on a phone and is in English and Finnish.

Soliton Soundscape is for students, teachers and anyone who is curious about nonlinear waves and how they sound.