3. Sonata (e102, 2018): Bénard Instability

This piece is influenced by the Bénard instability, a puzzle of stability that occurs far from equilibrium. Regarded as a classic case of self-organization, Henri Bénard discovered that heating a thin layer of fluid may result in strangely ordered forms. When a liquid is uniformly heated from below, a constant circuit is set into motion moving from bottom to top. When the temperature difference between the bottom and top layers reach a critical value, the hot liquid rises while the cooler liquid descends. Recent research has shown that not only large-scale hexagonal structures result, but also small-scale irregularities.

It is those small-scale irregular patterns that inspired this 3. Sonata