Experimental study on dynamics of the clapping coupling system

Audiences clapping together in unison are a familiar and powerful example of synchronization. In this paper, we report on a series of experiments aimed to characterize the dynamics of the clapping coupling system (CCS) and to reveal the regimes of the synchronous processes of the clapping interaction. Our results show that each oscillator in the CCS has inherent clapping characteristics, the interaction between the oscillators is a kind of prejudgment mode, the clapping coupling of two interacting oscillators aperiodically transits between synchronous state and asynchronous state. The results of the numerical simulations based on the theoretical model of the two-individuals clapping process verify well the experimental results. In particular, numerical results indicate that the intermittent dynamic of the clapping coupling system in the experiments consists in coexisting states of synchronous and asynchronous states perturbed by the fluctuation of the clapping period. Our research framework and results can be used not only to explain human clapping, but also to understand other rhythmic behaviors. CCS has the advantages of cheap materials and simple operation; it is very suitable for teaching demonstration and theoretical research on the synchronization phenomenon.