Synchronizing Fireflies ×

An experiment inspired by the book "Sync: How Order Emerges From Chaos In the Universe, Nature, and Daily Life" by Steven H. Strogatz.

Each cell flashes every few seconds. The cells influence each other in such a way that they will all eventually synchronize, as do some species of fireflies.

The cells charge following a logarithmic curve similar to that of a charging capacitor, firing upon reaching a threshold. This affects neighboring cells by a factor proportional to the inverse of their squared distance. The cells need not have identical individual frequencies to reach sychronization.

Visualization by Michael Fogleman.
Code available on GitHub.

Size Layout






Influence
WeakStrong
Similarity
IdenticalVaried