Sound does not die

I think atmosphere is the carrier of sound in space.In certain place in space,the atmosphere will be absent and sound cannot be travelled in that condition.

Sound waves travel through space only if the is some medium in that space. Space on Earth is filled with stuff (like air, water, rock, etc.) Sound cannot exist in empty space. Outer space is pretty empty.

Sound travels in waves by making molecules (or atoms) vibrate within the environment they are emitted (water/air). There must be some medium for the vibrations to travel through to stimulate the structures within your ears. Since there are no molecules to vibrate in outer space, sounds have no way to be transfered from the source of the sound. Even if "sound" could exist in space, we would not be able to "hear" it.

We know that sound can travel only through a medium like solid, liquid and gas. Since there is vacuum in space the vibrating body which emits sounds doesn't loose energy to any medium (like air) and hence it continues to be vibrating until all the energy is used up by the vibrating body itself...!

Both Ajay and Sarala said that sound need a medium to travel and they explained it well also . And since space is vacuum, so there is no medium for sound to travel.

I would like to ask one question and that is how scientists identify distant object in outer space using Radio Waves, which uses different wavelengths to create an image of that object?

Another question is, how satellites communicate with Earth, since Satellites are also placed in space(vacuum)?

To support my view that sound travels in space(vacuum) in the form of Radio Waves. Radio waves can travel in vacuum as it convert radio waves in electromagnetic waves. Here is a link which will explain it much better:

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art29542.asp

Nice explanation bySarala and Ajoy. Good informations shared.

Friends I agree with all of you but tell me - Why sound does not die?

What I think is for something to die, it must have a physical appearance or content to eventually get destructed or as we say, DIE. Sound per se does not constitute any physical component, it is constituted by vibrations which are generated from other physical things and/or physical, chemical, mechanical phenomena, like clouds thickly charged with water and static electricity when rub against each other, they create thunder claps, which are enormous sound waves. Which is why when things break, they create sound but when those broken parts subside and settle down, they stop emitting any kind of vibrations or waves. So sound waves do die off eventually but sound per se does not die, ever.

I don't know whether anyone can understand what I wrote, but I wrote it as best as I understand how things work. :)

The sound waves cannot travel in the space only the light travel through vaccume but not sound

I didn't have the exact answer to the concept that "sound never dies". But it is true that sound never dies. I don't know whether the same theory goes with light also. Based on this concept only we people in Earth have set up several radio communication station with large disc antennae which are transmitting radio signals of different animals,human, songs etc.,to the space in anticipation that some where in outer space some alien or advanced evolution may capture those signals and reciprocate to them. Sound waves signals of more than 50 years have been sent through these stations and are travelling in outer space.This proves that sound never dies. Even scientists have been trying to capture sound waves of past happenings that are present in Earth atmosphere. But why sound wave never dies!!!

Actually nothing dies. Only transformation occurs. Matter is indestructible. There is only change of form- solid may become liquid, liquid transformed to gas and so on. Hence, sound also does not die.

sound is a type of vibration which moves in the atmosphere through medium like air. sound is a type of energy which never converted into other form so it doesn't die.other types of energies are converted from one form to other n we say it die.

I think not only sound everything like air, water, rocks nothing dies as they are non-living things. But yes everything can be stopped or destructed which can be called as death.

What I think is for something to die, it must have a physical appearance or content to eventually get destructed or as we say, DIE. Sound per se does not constitute any physical component, it is constituted by vibrations which are generated from other physical things and/or physical, chemical, mechanical phenomena, like clouds thickly charged with water and static electricity when rub against each other, they create thunder claps, which are enormous sound waves. Which is why when things break, they create sound but when those broken parts subside and settle down, they stop emitting any kind of vibrations or waves. So sound waves do die off eventually but sound per se does not die, ever.

I don't know whether anyone can understand what I wrote, but I wrote it as best as I understand how things work. :)

Plus +1 Devyani thats the answer you are looking for. The explanation goes in sync with what a professor taught me and cousin while preparing us for the physics olympiad. In essence, any energy will not die, it just transfers from one form to another.

And anyone looking for a more simpler answer, the definition of law of energy would do which specifically states that "Energy can neither be created nor destroyed"

[quote]Kalyani Nandurkar wrote:
What I think is for something to die, it must have a physical appearance or content to eventually get destructed or as we say, DIE. Sound per se does not constitute any physical component, it is constituted by vibrations which are generated from other physical things and/or physical, chemical, mechanical phenomena, like clouds thickly charged with water and static electricity when rub against each other, they create thunder claps, which are enormous sound waves. Which is why when things break, they create sound but when those broken parts subside and settle down, they stop emitting any kind of vibrations or waves. So sound waves do die off eventually but sound per se does not die, ever.

I don't know whether anyone can understand what I wrote, but I wrote it as best as I understand how things work.


Plus +1 Devyani thats the answer you are looking for. The explanation goes in sync with what a professor taught me and cousin while preparing us for the physics olympiad. In essence, any energy will not die, it just transfers from one form to another.

And anyone looking for a more simpler answer, the definition of law of energy would do which specifically states that "Energy can neither be created nor destroyed" [/quote]

@Arun, I am really glad to know that there is at least one person who understands what I wrote :) Otherwise, I was afraid of making it sound like gibberish! Also, the simple definition for energy is really something that applies to each and every single thing on this universe, thanks for refreshing that! :)

@Kalyani - Don't be afraid to share anything what's on your mind. I follow this quote and I guess you may like it too..

History shows us that the people who end up changing the world – the great political, social, scientific, technological, artistic, even sports revolutionaries – are always nuts, until they are right, and then they are geniuses.

And you really made me remember the old times. Back in time, we use to have this informal meetings, headed by our french teacher and whenever the discussion used to turn to leonardo da vinci or the renaissance, whatever the teacher and I spoke sounded all gibberish to the rest of the crew, but when we documented the same on a PPT, they found it fascinating and wanted to hear our gibberish all over again.

So my teacher told me dont hold back anything 'coz people may not like it, if they dont like it at first they will like it at some point or the other. The initial resistance is just to maintain the inertia of the group as a whole. Our sub conscious mind dont like changes.....

And yea, since I am now gonna go back to my book shelf and pick up a book on leonardo, I will leave you with one more quote. I love the quote

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, ‘I used everything you gave me.

Arun thanks for sharing this. It is nice but what about sound? Sound is the only energy which cannot be destroyed. Why it is so?

UNTIL THE AIR MOVES AND AIR PRESENT SOUND NEVER DIE ANYWHERE. IF THERE IS ONLY VACUUM AND NO AIR THEN SOUND DIES

Arun thanks for sharing this. It is nice but what about sound? Sound is the only energy which cannot be destroyed. Why it is so?

Devyani, Not only sound but any form of energy cannot be destroyed. Be it light or any other. We get a feeling it is not there as energy requires a medium, it transfers and thats when we feel energy. But it is always there.

UNTIL THE AIR MOVES AND AIR PRESENT SOUND NEVER DIE ANYWHERE. IF THERE IS ONLY VACUUM AND NO AIR THEN SOUND DIES

Sarala, there is no such thing as vacuum in practice. It only exists in theory and used to give a baseline to measure scientific experiments. No one can create a space with absolutely no particle in it. You can just minimize it so that their effect on the experiment conducted would be negligible.

And sound waves always exists, air is just a medium through which the sound travels. Did you know sound travels faster in water than air, hence it is used in SONAR devices for navigation, most used in submarines to find other ships etc.

No, arun vacuum exist in even practical. I studies in chemistry and even in physics.