2007-01-08 08:05:34 · 14 answers · asked by ktdbir 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Because the moon has no atmosphere, its in the vacuum of space. Sound does not travel in a vacuum. Sound only travels in an environment with an atmosphere.
2007-01-08 08:08:09 · answer #1 · answered by jeff the drunk 6 · 5⤊ 0⤋
Yeah, Jackie Treehorn is just guessing there (;?)...
Sound needs a medium though which to transmit. Air, water and solid. So if you were on the moon, and you put you carefully placed your helmeted head to the ground, you could probably make out the thumping of nearby activity, transmitted first through the ground, then through your helmet and into your ears.
Likewise if two spacemen put their helmets togther they could hold a conversation, though it would probably be pretty muffled.
But as some of the other posters point out, there's no atmosphere, so sound can't transmit across open distance.
Now here's a conundrum for you. I know the answer... let's see if you or anyone else can answer.
Sound needs an atmosphere or some solid or semi solid medium through which to transmit. But what is it with light? How does it transmit across empty space?
Start pursuing that question and you'll find yourself in the thick of a physics puzzle that led to most of our modern view of the universe. What is it with light?
Good luck...
2007-01-08 08:20:38 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Sound needs a medium to carry it.
Usually, what we call sound is a series of compression waves that arrive at the eardrum through the air. No air on the Moon = no sound under this definition.
It is possible for sound to travel through other media, if they can carry the waves. If one astronaut stands on a very large rock while another astronaut, hundreds of feet away, hammers away at the same rock, the sound waves may travel through the rock, cause the foot pads of the suit to vibrate and this vibration could end us as sound inside the suit. If the listening astronaut is lying on the ground with her faceplate touching the rock surface and her skull touching the face plate, she (or he) could "hear" through the bones (the head bones are welded together and close enough to the very small bones that take the vibrations of the eardrum and transform them into signals for the brain to interpret as sound).
Seismic detectors are, in most cases, sound detectors that are sensible to very low frequency sounds (frequencies we can't hear). Some were left on the Moon and they listen to Moonquakes.
2007-01-08 08:22:31 · answer #3 · answered by Raymond 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
We are unable to hear sound on moon because there is no medium and as we know, that sound require medium to travel. There is also high pressure on moon so it is is another reason why we cant listen any voice on moon.
2017-01-02 12:56:54 · answer #4 · answered by ? 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
sound waves require a medium to travel through. sound waves need particles of air to vibrate and carry the sound wave on. since there is no air on the moon (or in other words, there is a vacuum on the moon) there are no particles of anything to propagate the sound wave on. therefore no sound can travel on the moon.
2007-01-08 09:01:57 · answer #5 · answered by amandac 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Why do say there's no sound on the moon? Have you been there? Maybe there IS sound on the moon, but no one can hear it. Maybe the Apollo astronauts who went there were wearing earplugs, or perhaps they were instructed not to tell anyone about the wonderful sounds they did hear. Or, more likely, since 'sound' as we know it on earth is merely a mechanical vibration of the air surrounding us which excites the structures in our ears which our brains perceive as sound and the fact that there's no air on the moon, there can be no vibration, hence no excitement, hence to perception. But I dunno, I'm just guessing here.
2007-01-08 08:11:37 · answer #6 · answered by Jackie Treehorn 2 · 1⤊ 2⤋
b/c for traveling of sound need specific medium their is no medium on moon.it is also the type of mechanical wave which have need medium for its propagation that is why sound is not hear on moon
2014-09-06 14:47:29 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
There are plenty of sounds on the moon, but no atmosphere to carry them; only rock. Think meteor impact.
2007-01-08 08:10:11 · answer #8 · answered by Steve 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The reason sound can't travel in vacuum is indeed because it propagates by changes in waves of pressure of *some* medium, air or other things, like metal. In vacuum, there simply is no medium to propagate the waves in.
2007-01-08 12:26:14 · answer #9 · answered by Jonas Nordlund 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
the real question is would a tree falling in the woods make a sound if there were no ears for miles around nope disturbing the air, however violently, makes no noise at all noise exists only in our heads EARTH is a silent planet
2016-05-23 00:40:31 · answer #10 · answered by kenneth 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋