DNA's familiar double helix carries biological instructions. This piece imagines a third line wrapped around the same axis. Each begins 120° from the next, so their peaks never meet. The pattern echoes three-phase current: three signals sharing a center and balancing one another as they move.
Phase and balance.
Each helix follows rₙ(t) = R·cos(ωt + n·2π/3).
When one reaches its widest point, the other two sit at −0.5. Their sum remains zero.
Balance here is active, not still. Each line offsets the extremes of the others.
Inside the core.
The three currents meet in the central column. Laminar flow gives it a steady glow.
Turbulence introduces vortices and beating frequencies. In resonance mode, the lines briefly lock together.
The core flashes, then settles back into motion.
Between the lines.
The connecting rungs borrow their form from DNA base pairs. They light when two lines approach the same phase,
marking a brief exchange between separate rhythms.
Five ways to move.
Laminar flow is calm and fastest at the center. Turbulence produces cross-currents.
Resonance forms a standing wave. Pulse mode follows the pressure rhythm of a heart.
Chaos lets a small change grow into a large one. The geometry stays the same; only the flow rate changes.