Why Do Metronomes Synchronise?

The synchronization is due to the clocks transferring energy to each other via the coupling bar in the form of mechanical vibrations. ... In 2002 a team led by Kurt Wiesenfeld at Georgia Tech in the US designed and built a simplified version of Huygens' experiment using mechanical metronomes instead of pendulum clocks.

Why do things spontaneously synchronize?

Spontaneous synchronization is a remarkable collective effect observed in nature, whereby a population of oscillating units, which have diverse natural frequencies and are in weak interaction with one another, evolves to spontaneously exhibit collective oscillations at a common frequency.

Why do pendulum clocks synchronized?

The researchers calculated that, as pendulums move back and forth, sound pulses could travel through the wall from clock to clock. These pulses can interfere with the swings of the pendulums, eventually causing them to synchronize.