Can fire burn sound for a fuel?

Question

Since sound waves travel through the air, and fire needs oxygen to burn, can fire burn sound?

Answer 1

Sound waves are formed by a disturbance of mechanical energy, they don't have mass, so no they cannot burn. Only what they travel through can burn.

Answer 2

No. Sound waves can travel in any medium, even interstellar gas (although there wouldn't be enough sound for the human ear to hear that sound). Fire needs oxygen to burn, and sound is not a force (well, it is induced by electromagnetism). But the whole point is, just because oxygen can carry sound like anything else, doesn't mean sound can fuel oxygen.

Answer 3

In theory, you could feed oxygen to a fire by talking to it, thereby making the fire burn faster. But sound waves do not move much air. It's much more efficient just to blow.

But it's actually possible to extract energy from sound waves. This is done by letting a loudspeaker play in destructive interference with the sound. It's only feasible when the sound is very predictable, such as the noise produced by certain machines. When this is done, the purpose is to reduce noise pollution. It's not efficient as a source of energy.

Answer 4

Fire uses the oxygen in the medium that sound needs to travel in - not the actual sound. Think about it, if a fire burned the sound, a roaring camp fire wouldn't crackle and pop and snap - these sounds would be consumed.

Answer 5

I recall reading somewhere that the molecules being on fire generates more molecules, which in turn catch a fire. So, it basically would never burn out. Fire on fire. I am not certain, but I believe it was from the book, Things To Come, by Dwight Pentecost.

Answer 6

No, but sound at the right frequency and volume can burn you. A bit like a microwave but in a different frequency range.

Answer 7

the only way 2 find out that q is 2 make a fire, jump n, then c if u can hear your radio.

r u ready 4 that?