What is the loudest sound in the universe. Scientists know the answer

What is the loudest sound in the universe. Scientists know the answer

In outer space you will not be able to hear the sounds familiar to us. The fact is that sounds are perceived as air vibrations, and in space you will not meet the atmosphere with air. But stars constantly explode in the universe, galaxies and black holes collide. All these processes should be loud, right? This question will help astronomers and astrophysics.

For reference, we recommend that you first review: Sounds of open space and the universe.

What is the loudest sound in the universe. Scientists know the answer

- Greg Salvesen (PhD, astronomer and astrophysicist at the University of California):

As I understand it, the galactic Perseus cluster is considered to be the record holder for noise in the known Universe. To create a sound, two conditions are required. First of all, one cannot do without an environment in which sound waves propagate (air or any other gas). The region between the galaxies in the cluster is penetrated by a bitter gas, which in observations shines in the form of X-ray light.

A source of sound waves will also be required. It can be a powerful black hole located in the center of one of the galaxies of the group. At certain times, it releases a tremendous amount of energy into a hot gas that transfers energy in the form of sound waves. The volume depends on the ability of the gas to efficiently transport energy from a black hole. In a specific case, energy equates to an explosion of 100 million stars! This is an incredibly loud sound, but we will never hear it in the usual sense. The fact is that the passage of a single sound wave from a black hole to us takes 10 million years. Unfortunately, no one person can live so much ”.

What is the loudest sound in the universe. Scientists know the answer

- Robert Erdelli (Professor of Mathematics at the University of Sheffield):

A huge explosion in space is capable of generating acoustic waves. Outer space is filled with plasma (the fourth state of matter after a solid, liquid and gas). In fact, the state of the universe is 99.9% represented by plasma. In space, there are not very strong magnetic fields, where there is a plasma that plays the role of a sound propagation channel.

The stars have convective zones, which constantly create perturbations of the plasma medium, generating acoustic waves. Even our sun is noisy. Sometimes these acoustic serenades last for hours, and sometimes break after a few seconds. You can perceive these events as very loud sounds. By the way, the energy associated with acoustic waves is billions of billions of billions more than the power of an atomic bomb explosion! These are incredibly high-profile events that occur literally at our side ”.

What is the loudest sound in the universe. Scientists know the answer

- Jim Fuller (astrophysicist-theorist at Caltech):

It seems to me that the loudest sound in outer space is created during a collision of black holes. But it moves in the form of gravitational waves, and not the usual sound. While black holes are in the range of 1-100 solar masses (such a case of confluence was recorded with LIGO), the sound remains in the range of human hearing!

Such mergers generate about 10 ^ 52 W of power, which is a billion billion times greater than solar energy. If we translate the watt scale to decibels, we get 520 decibels ”.

The sound of colliding black holes:

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