Assuming you could travel at the speed of sound, if you were to stand directly under a lighting bolt when it struck (and not die) and were to instantly be going the speed of sound what would it sound like and for how long would you hear it?
weird question, i know.
2006-08-24 05:35:28 · 11 answers · asked by kjacobs3585 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
- Wouldn't you hear it for miles? I can hear a lighting bolt from miles away?
- What if you were to slightly vary your speed so that you were never inbetween compressions of the sound wave?
2006-08-24 06:07:25 · update #1
Very interesting question.
Assuming you started traveling at the speed of sound just as the waves hit you (and you made no sonic boom), you wouldn't hear anything while traveling. Sound is basically waves of high and low pressure moving through the air. If you were moving at the same speed as the waves, then your ears would be in either a low pressure spot or a high pressure spot (or somewhere in between). Since it's the fluctuations in pressure that are picked up by our ears as sound, you wouldn't hear anything.
However, you might be able to feel the pressure change in your ears (like when you're driving up a mountain) as the intensity of the sound dissipates. That would happen most if your ears started at an area in the wave that was either the maximum or minimum pressure-wise.
2006-08-24 08:21:24 · answer #1 · answered by J C 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Wierd Question. I agree. But it is only when people asked wierd questions like that did science progress. When you know nobody knows the answer, you set out to find it yourself and then tell the world. well fortunately we already know the answer to this one.
If you start off even before the sound of the thunder reaches your ears, and you reach the speed of sound immediately, the sound will never reach you and like some of the answers above, you will never hear a thing.
However if you start running AFTER you hear the noise, then you will be moving along with sound's wavefront and will hear a constant loud noise. However the intensity of the sound reduces as you travel away from the source. If I recall correctly, the intensity falls off with the square of the distance. Within a few hundred meters the sound will become barely audible, and travelling at the speed of sound you will cover that distance in just a few seconds.
2006-08-24 12:42:02 · answer #2 · answered by Ra.Ge 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
dont give me best answer, because i had to correct this one based on further information from later posters: the people below me who noted fact that you wouldnt hear anything b/c of the wave travelling at the same pitch as you are correct. it has nothing to do with you going ahead of the wave (still assuming you start at the source of the wave and at the same time). it's the doppler shift from your speed (the speed of sound) which would cause you not to hear anything. you'd also be breaking the sound barrier as you went along though, so someone standing still would experience one hell of a BOOM as you passed.
this was my original answer:
assuming that you left at exactly the same time the sound wave did, and you travelled perfectly in line with the radius of the expanding circle, you would hear the constant clap of the concussion from the heated air. however, though constant, the sound would be fading the further you got from the source since the energy of the wave disperses as it spreads out over distance.
2006-08-24 12:43:14 · answer #3 · answered by promethius9594 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
as they said, the sound wouldn't reach you since you already left when the bolt struck.
and 2nd, if you're going at speed of sound,
you will leave a sonic boom, more powerful sound than a thunder.
but if we assume that you're not standing under it, as though you were travelling at 90% speed of sound, and you either approach the sound or leaving the sound.
If we apply the theory of the Doppler Effect, you still wouldn't hear the sound.
approaching the sound: the sound perceived could be at a very high frequency, we wont hear it since we are travelling at 90% sound speed.
leaving away from the sound: the sound perceived could be at a very low frequency, we still wont hear it since we are travelling at a very fast 90% percent sound speed. :)
2006-08-24 14:06:03 · answer #4 · answered by zodiacfml 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You won't hear anything. Because your speed is same as the thunder sound and if the sound wave generated by the lightning did not reach your ear at the time you go to full speed. Then you will not hear anything.
2006-08-24 12:41:52 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Shock waves travel greater than the speed of sound. I imagine that you would hear the initial crack, then no sound.
2006-08-24 14:20:47 · answer #6 · answered by scott p 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The speed of sound is 1000 ft/sec at sea level
2006-08-24 15:49:13 · answer #7 · answered by JOHNNIE B 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You would hear the sound of breathing really rapidly because even when I run slowly that is what I hear when I speed up.
2006-08-24 12:42:09 · answer #8 · answered by Nelson_DeVon 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
even if you took off instantly as the sound was heard. that would be the only isnstant you heard it bc you would be between to compressions of the sound wave.
2006-08-24 12:47:18 · answer #9 · answered by doc2be 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
you wouldnt ever hear it cause you are traveling at the speed of sound and it would never reach ure ears.
2006-08-24 12:41:23 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋