Is there sound in Space?

 titleIs there sound in Space?

There is no sound in space. Sound, like light or heat, is a wave. However, one major distinction is that, unlike light or heat (radiation), sound needs a medium to travel. Sounds require the presence of molecules or particles to travel from one region to a different .

Armageddon is, by quite thick margin, if not the foremost , then one among the foremost heedlessly written, hilariously scientifically inaccurate movies of all time. Scientists either roll their eyes, wince or writhe watching the unintentional parody that's this movie. atomic explosion to destroy an asteroid, drilling in space, debris burning on the asteroid with none oxygen, casting Liv Tyler and engine sounds in space.

Another movie that creates the last mistake i discussed is Star Wars. The boom! sound of a spaceship exploding and being reduced to shreds or the whoosh! and pew! sounds of laser blasters causing the explosion itself are blasphemous within the doctrine of science.


However unsettling or rather monotonous, the action scenes throughout the movie that occur in space (except the sounds generated inside the spaceships) must be mute. There are not any sounds in space, because the film Alien reminds us: “In space, nobody can hear you scream”.

However, as we’ll determine , technically, this is often not true.

Why are there no sounds in space?
Sound, like light or heat, is a wave. However, one major distinction is that, unlike light or heat (radiation), sound needs a medium to travel. Sounds require the presence of molecules or particles to travel from one region to a different .

It is the outward vibration of those vagrant particles within the periphery of the source that accounts for the assembly and spreading of sound waves. A particle sauntering right next to a plucked string of a guitar is plunged into motion. This particle jiggles and transfers its K.E. to its neighbor, which then transfers it to his neighbor then on, until the wave reaches the receptors in our ear and is perceived as a note.

Sound waves coming from speaker to ear


Therefore, the rationale why sounds don't travel in space is because there are not any particles to disturb within the first place. That being said, what about the gas particles, remnants from supernova explosions and other dust particles? Can’t they propagate sound?

Oddly, no. These particles, unlike the particles on Earth, aren’t close enough or, to place it more elegantly, they aren’t compressed enough to speak .

Remember that space is virtually a vacuum, therefore the particles from the explosion are dispersed immediately and consequently aren’t dense enough to hold sound. Technically, a cloud of dust could carry sound, but the amplitude would be tremendously minuscule and practically inaudible to human ears.


, Is There Sound In Space?, Science ABC, Science ABC

To an astronaut outside a spaceship, the spaceship’s explosion would be a confusing visual of blinding heat and lightweight , but it might be barren of any sound, a silent film. For anyone familiar with the physics of Earth, this might induce cognitive dissonance. However, because the air inside the spaceship is compressed, the explosion might be easily heard by an astronaut inside.



This is also why astronauts cannot shout bent their partners and must use special equipment that converts sound to radio when sending a message and radio to sound on the receiving end.

So, no, there’s no sound in space.

But wait, what if we pointed more sensitive equipment towards a black hole?



Spooky space sounds
Sound is additionally defined in terms of pressure difference. because the sound travels through air, it stretches and contracts the encompassing atmospheric pressure . The air oscillates up and down, and therefore the time difference between these oscillations is understood because the sound’s frequency. This frequency is measured in Hertz (one oscillation per second, Hz).

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Sound, like light, also features a spectrum. Humans can only hear sounds of frequencies between 20 Hz and 20,000 Hz. this is often tantamount to the visible range of sunshine within the spectrum and is named the acoustic range. Frequencies below 20 Hz are referred to as infrasounds, while frequencies above 20 kHz are ultrasounds.

Perception is very consequential too. We cannot hear the frequencies above or below the acoustic range thanks to the constraints of the apparatus we use to concentrate . What we label and model as “sound” may be a bunch of particular frequencies to which our primitive apparatus is tuned. Anything lower or higher whizzes past us unnoticed.

California leaf nosed bat
Bats are known to use ultrasound to guide themselves, a bit like certain animals can perceive infrared and that we cannot.(Photo Credit : National Wildlife / Wikimedia Commons)

Technically, sounds are allowed to travel in space. they will exist as electromagnetic vibrations that propagate in similar wavelengths. Sounds in space are recorded by NASA with the help of sensitive hearing equipment, like the Chandra X-ray Observatory.

Astronomers found a supermassive region humming 250 million light-years faraway from Earth, residing within the Perseus cluster. They observed ripples within the gas filling this cluster, producing the deepest “note” detected from any object within the universe – a B-flat, 57 octaves below middle C . this is often 1,000,000 billion times deeper than rock bottom frequency of sound we will hear!

Perseus is that the brightest cluster of galaxies spreading X-rays, which makes it the right jukebox for locating sound waves in space reverberating through the gas within the cluster. it's estimated that the electromagnetic pulse was generated by the movement of hot, magnetized gas engulfing the region .


Earthquakes have also been reported to get low-frequency sounds thanks to the sudden lurching of particles within the atmosphere. The Earth’s vibrations depart low-frequency vibrations within the atmosphere and therefore the sonorous sound waves travel outward into space.

NASA has also compiled “sounds” of all the planets in our system , and even the Sun!

The sounds will probably make your hair stand on end, but you'll hear them here. The sounds are literally radio emissions captured by spacecraft passing by carrying sensitive instruments. When converted to sound, the perceptibly statuesque planets, a bit like jack-o’-lanterns, end up to be surprisingly spooky!