If a Volcano Erupts In Your Backyard, Will You Hear It?



Use our code SCISHOWPROMO at https://cometeer.com/scishowpromo to get $40 off your first order. If you’ve been wanting to try Cometeer, now is the time!

Even with a volcano just a few miles away, it’s possible you won’t hear it erupt due to a phenomenon known as sound shadows.

Hosted by: Hank Green (he/him)

Support SciShow by becoming a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scishow
———-
Huge thanks go to the following Patreon supporters for helping us keep SciShow free for everyone forever:

Matt Curls, Alisa Sherbow, Dr. Melvin Sanicas, Harrison Mills, Adam Brainard, Chris Peters, charles george, Piya Shedden, Alex Hackman, Christopher R, Boucher, Jeffrey Mckishen, Ash, Silas Emrys, Eric Jensen, Kevin Bealer, Jason A Saslow, Tom Mosner, Tomás Lagos González, Jacob, Christoph Schwanke, Sam Lutfi, Bryan Cloer
———-
Looking for SciShow elsewhere on the internet?
SciShow Tangents Podcast: https://scishow-tangents.simplecast.com/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@scishow
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/scishow
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/scishow
Instagram: http://instagram.com/thescishow
#SciShow #science #education
———-
Sources:
http://mountsthelens.com/history-2.html
https://engineering.tiu.edu.iq//architecture/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/lecture-4.pdf
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2001.05.0130%3Achapter%3D5#note-link4
https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-battles-detail.htm?battleCode=va014
https://gupress.gallaudet.edu/excerpts/FITSpreface.pdf
https://www.mit.edu/~azlokapa/questions/upwind.html
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0012821X07001665
https://acoustics.org/pressroom/httpdocs/136th/ross.htm
https://wisconsindot.gov/Documents/doing-bus/eng-consultants/cnslt-rsrces/environment/trafficnoiseweather.pdf
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225391538_Long-range_propagation_and_scattering_of_low-frequency_sound_pulses_in_the_middle_atmosphere
https://digitalcommons.longwood.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1028&context=chemphys_facpubs
https://salfordacoustics.co.uk/sound-waves/diffraction/diffraction-effects
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/224634672_The_Acoustics_of_Vessel_Collisions_with_Marine_Mammals
https://www.broward.org/Manatees/Documents/Gerstein_2002.pdf
https://aip.scitation.org/topic/aipthesaurus/p107p267?startPage=&ContribAuthorRaw=Cairoli%2C%20Maria
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8186962/
https://www.academia.edu/28151120/Architectural_Acoustics_ARE_320_ARE_320_Lecture_8
https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/noise/noise_barriers/design_construction/design/design03.cfm
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337489458_Audit_of_Auditoriums_in_an_Academic_Setting_Ghana

Image Sources:
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/tungurahua-volcano-erupting-stock-footage/473173021
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MSH82_st_helens_plume_from_harrys_ridge_05-19-82.jpg
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/orange-noise-protection-wall-on-a-freeway-highway-noise-stock-footage/1309289726
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Benson%27s_Battery_M_at_Fair_Oaks_1862.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/Battle_of_Fair_Oaks_Meagher.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Rescue_of_the_Colors-William_Trego.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Battle_of_Five_Forks_Kurz_%26_Allison.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Battle_of_Iuka.png
https://tinyurl.com/3ft2pzp5
https://tinyurl.com/4vkakbe9
https://tinyurl.com/yhe6huey
https://tinyurl.com/bddwnmzf
https://tinyurl.com/4vya6ju5
https://tinyurl.com/2p98pr3t
https://tinyurl.com/muyk52w9
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/aerial-drone-shot-of-empty-seats-in-the-ravensburg-stock-footage/1238173206
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/traffic-at-night-toronto-stock-footage/1033420460
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/straight-motorway-highway-cars-passing-sound-barriers-stock-footage/1365048556
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/new-city-highway-with-tunnels-in-krakow-poland-stock-footage/1435509020
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/orange-noise-protection-wall-on-a-freeway-highway-noise-stock-footage/1309289726
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/long-grass-blowing-in-the-wind-with-the-sea-in-the-stock-footage/1410037412
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/young-man-contemplating-and-looking-away-and-dreaming-in-stock-footage/1356030071
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Circular_road_in_T%C5%99eb%C3%AD%C4%8D,_T%C5%99eb%C3%AD%C4%8D_District.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_photograph_shows_the_area_of_the_Confederate_assault_on_Cemetery_Hill_not_long_after_the_Union_battery_repulsed_the_fierce_attack_by_the_Louisiana_Tigers_LOC_9157937073.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:-Civil_War_View-_MET_DP248316.jpg

source

24 thoughts on “If a Volcano Erupts In Your Backyard, Will You Hear It?”

  1. I'm concerned as to why the manatee is in a red dress with a brown/brunette wig. Do they identify as a brunette or did the artist just draw them with no concern for the Manatee's, which is an animal by the way, real truth?

    Reply
  2. As someone who was taught in theater for example living in a mountain area, surprised you folks didn't include soundshadowing in hills and gullies that can mess with direction for novice hikers.

    Reply
  3. This is great technology to help people with dyspraxia, and I think I'll use some of these methods personally. Earphones are nice, but this sounds like a great way to add some much needed silence to my living space. I'm all about that Mental Health , dog.

    Reply
  4. The eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai should've deafened everyone in Tonga. But while they were startled by the sound of the eruption, it wasn't super loud to them. Yet people in the Yukon reported hearing the blast as loud as a gunshot down the street. Clearly sound shadows saved the ears of the Tongans.

    Reply
  5. Could sound elicit other things such as screechy or mumbling "ghostly" spounds? Some folks visit haunted houses or graveyards where they hear noises like language or thin, reedy vibrations like human speech.

    Reply
  6. It's not that people can't hear the sounds, it's that the sounds don't even reach them to be heard.
    Kind of like somebody staying behind a concrete wall when someone on the other side is shooting at them.
    It's not that you can't be affected by the bullets, but rather the bullets never reach you.
    I know some people will think I'm nitpicking, but it's an important difference that getting it wrong, may have some really nasty disillusionment events in the future, especially the one with the bullets. 😉

    Reply
  7. As a former sound guy, I love this. Sound shadows are can be a powerfully useful tool (drum shields, soundproof foam panels/walls).
    It can also be your WORST ENEMY, as depicted in the video. It gets even worse in outdoor shows.

    Reply
  8. Yo I have a question! Maybe it can worth
    a video.
    How come we haven't invented a "sound" that cancel other sounds? Like some tipe of vibration soundless to our ears but then interfered with normal sound they cancel out.

    Reply
  9. I'm wondering about walls along highways diffusing and bending soundwaves (@8:25) in conjunction with how sounds are extra loud if you happen to be directly beneath where a sound wave strikes/crashes [due to bending] (@3:44).

    Does that mean, in the areas beyond the sound shadow boundaries, these soundbarriers are potentially increasing the traffic sounds they are meant to block?

    Reply

Leave a Comment