Water levitated by Tibetan singing bowls

Tibetan singing bowls, ancient instruments used for meditation, can be manipulated to produce droplets that levitate, bounce and skip across water.

When one adds water to a Tibetan singing bowl and plays – often by tracing the edge with a mallet – the bowl's haunting sound is accompanied by ripples on the water's surface. That's because the mallet pushes on the side of the bowl – made from bronze alloy that is more malleable than glass – and deforms it on a microscopic scale.

The deformation pushes on the air and the water, forming waves. The air waves are sound; the water waves race around the ring. If they are sufficiently excited, the waves break and eject droplets. The same happens in a wine glass, though at higher resonant frequencies.
 New Scientist