The Microfluidic Jukebox
Abstract
Music is a form of art interweaving people of all walks of life. Through subtle changes in frequencies, a
succession of musical notes forms a melody which is capable of mesmerizing the minds of people. With the
advances in technology, we are now able to generate music electronically without relying solely on physical
instruments. Here, we demonstrate a musical interpretation of droplet-based microfluidics as a form of
novel electronic musical instruments. Using the interplay of electric field and hydrodynamics in
microfluidic devices, well controlled frequency patterns corresponding to musical tracks are generated in
real time. This high-speed modulation of droplet frequency (and therefore of droplet sizes) may also provide
solutions that reconciles high-throughput droplet production and the control of individual droplet at
production which is needed for many biochemical or material synthesis applications.
Journal Title
Scientific Reports
Volume
4
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s). 2014. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-
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Subject
Mechanical Engineering not elsewhere classified