Posts Tagged ‘sound’
“A volcano may be considered as a cannon of immense size”*…
On August 27, 1883, the Earth let out a noise louder than any it has made since.
It was 10:02 a.m. local time when the sound emerged from the island of Krakatoa, which sits between Java and Sumatra in Indonesia. It was heard 1,300 miles away in the Andaman and Nicobar islands (“extraordinary sounds were heard, as of guns firing”); 2,000 miles away in New Guinea and Western Australia (“a series of loud reports, resembling those of artillery in a north-westerly direction”); and even 3,000 miles away in the Indian Ocean island of Rodrigues, near Mauritius (“coming from the eastward, like the distant roar of heavy guns.”). In all, it was heard by people in over 50 different geographical locations, together spanning an area covering a thirteenth of the globe.
Think, for a moment, just how crazy this is. If you’re in Boston and someone tells you that they heard a sound coming from New York City, you’re probably going to give them a funny look. But Boston is a mere 200 miles from New York. What we’re talking about here is like being in Boston and clearly hearing a noise coming from Dublin, Ireland. Traveling at the speed of sound (766 miles or 1,233 kilometers per hour), it takes a noise about four hours to cover that distance. This is the most distant sound that has ever been heard in recorded history…
More at “The Sound So Loud That It Circled the Earth Four Times.”
(And for a consideration of “the noise beneath the noise,” check out “The Noise at the Bottom of the Universe.”)
* Oliver Goldsmith, Goldsmith’s Miscellaneous Works (1841), 90
###
As we Bring the Noise, we might that it was on this date in 2013 that the eruption of Ecuador’s Tungurahua volcano sent a massive plume of ash, stones, and vapor soaring more than eight miles into the sky above the Andes.
Pyrocumulus clouds soaring high above the Andes due to the eruption of Ecuador’s Tungurahua volcano
“I used to think information was destroyed in black holes. This was my biggest blunder, or at least my biggest blunder in science”*…
email readers click here for video
Gravitational waves sent out from a pair of colliding black holes have been converted to sound waves, as heard in this animation. On September 14, 2015, LIGO [the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory] observed gravitational waves from the merger of two black holes, each about 30 times the mass of our sun. The incredibly powerful event, which released 50 times more energy than all the stars in the observable universe, lasted only fractions of a second.
In the first two runs of the animation, the sound-wave frequencies exactly match the frequencies of the gravitational waves. The second two runs of the animation play the sounds again at higher frequencies that better fit the human hearing range. The animation ends by playing the original frequencies again twice.
As the black holes spiral closer and closer in together, the frequency of the gravitational waves increases. Scientists call these sounds “chirps,” because some events that generate gravitation waves would sound like a bird’s chirp.
More background from LIGO:
email readers click here for video
* Stephen Hawking
###
As we scan the event horizon, we might send difficult-to-detect birthday greetings to Lawrence Maxwell Krauss; he was born on this date in 1954. A theoretical physicist and cosmologist, Dr. Krauss was among the first to propose the existence of the enigmatic dark energy that makes up most of the mass and energy in the universe. He directs the Origins Project, and has written several books on science for the general public, including Fear of Physics (1993), The Physics of Star Trek (1995), Quantum Man: Richard Feynman’s Life in Science (2011), and A Universe from Nothing (2012).
“But he who dares not grasp the thorn should never crave the rose”*…
If hearing Bret Michaels serenade Rock of Love contestants with his 1988 hit “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” wasn’t painful enough for you, artist Michael Ridge has come up with just the thing to give this hoary old power ballad some spice. With the aid of a contact mike, Ridge has figured out how to play Poison’s hit on his turntable using a branch from a rose bush in place of a stylus arm, and like actual thorns doing the needle’s job…
email readers click here for video
More at “An actual rose bush plays ‘Every Rose Has Its Thorn’“; and more of Ridge’s remarkable work at the creator’s link at the Vimeo page above and on his Soundcloud page.
* Anne Brontë
###
As we drop the needle, we might recall that it was on this date in 1883 that Ladies Home Journal was first published. Born of a a popular double-page supplement in the American magazine Tribune and Farmer titled Women at Home, it quickly became the most popular magazine of its type, and in 1903 became the first American magazine to reach 1 million subscribers. One of “The Seven Sisters”– publications aimed at women: the Journal, plus Better Homes and Gardens, Family Circle, Good Housekeeping, McCall’s, Redbook and Woman’s Day— the Journal led the pack in circulation until 1963 (when it fell behind McCall’s). Since 2014 its emphasis has been on the web; it has been available in print on newsstands only as a quarterly.
“The empty vessel makes the greatest sound”*…
* Shakespeare, Henry V (quoting a proverbial saying often attributed to Plato)
###
As we become one with the Cosmos, we might recall that it was on this date in 1966 that Capitol Records released the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations.” Reputedly the most expensive single ever produced to that date, it’s in any case true that composer and producer Brian Wilson is credited with a huge step forward in the use of the recording studio as an “instrument” in its creation The record was the Beach Boys’ third #1 song in the U.S. (their first in the U.K.) and has been included in both the Grammy and the Rock and Roll Halls of Fame.
“If you talk to the animals they will talk with you”*…
The Macaulay Library is the world’s largest and oldest scientific archive of biodiversity audio and video recordings. Our mission is to collect and preserve recordings of each species’ behavior and natural history, to facilitate the ability of others to collect and preserve such recordings, and to actively promote the use of these recordings for diverse purposes spanning scientific research, education, conservation, and the arts.
Scientists worldwide use our audio and video recordings to better understand and preserve our planet. Teachers use our sounds and videos to illustrate the natural world and create exciting interactive learning opportunities. We help others depict nature accurately and bring the wonders of animal behavior to the widest possible audience. It is an invaluable resource at your fingertips.
This archive grows through the efforts of dedicated recordists who share their recordings with the community. We encourage recordists around the world to contribute their recordings and data to what has become an irreplaceable resource…
Browse the collection and learn more about its work at Cornell’s Macaulay Library.
And explore more “sounds that never die” at “The Eternal Auditorium.”
* Chief Dan George
###
As we peel our ears, we might spare a thought for John W. “Jack” Ryan; he died on this date in 1991. A Yale-trained engineer, Ryan left Raytheon (where he worked on the Navy’s Sparrow III and Hawk guided missiles) to join Mattel. He oversaw the conversion of the Mattel-licensed “Bild Lili” doll into Barbie (contributing, among other things, the joints that allowed “her” to bend at the waist and the knee) and created the Hot Wheels line. But he is perhaps best remembered as the inventor of the pull-string, talking voice box that gave Chatty Cathy her voice.
Ryan with his wife, Zsa Zsa Gabor. She was his first only spouse; he, her sixth.
You must be logged in to post a comment.