Questions about Sound in Space

POSTED BY: BlueBomber
UPDATED: Tuesday, November 30, 2021 06:47
VIEWED: 12723
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BLUEBOMBER

Thursday, June 9, 2005 7:10 PM

I love the fact that there are no lasers, phasers, photon torpedo sound FX in this show. But I have a science-related question about that which I've had in my head long before I started watching FF...

There's no sound in space because sound waves require some sort of medium (like air) to travel through. Since space is one big vacuum, there's no air and hence no sound. But how do radio waves travel, then, like in ship-to-ship communication? How is it that, even in today's world, probes like Voyager, Explorer, etc. can send back information and pictures if there's no wave to ride?

I've always wondered about that. Hopefully somebody more educated than I is willing to enlighten me....

"Mwah ha ha ha...mine is an evil laugh. Now die."

SERGEANTX

Thursday, June 9, 2005 7:18 PM

Radio waves are essentially light waves and don't require a medium to move through.

SergeantX

"Dream a little dream or you can live a little dream. I'd rather live it, cause dreamers always chase but never get it." Aesop Rock

GROUNDED

Thursday, June 9, 2005 8:20 PM

Radio waves are part of the electromagnetic spectrum, which includes visible light, infrared, ultraviolet, x-rays and a bunch of other electromagneticky things (mmm scientific). In the quantum description, electromagnetic waves are composed of quanta - essentially 'particles' of light (or radio waves or whatever) that are entities in their own right and can move through vacuum, just like particles of matter.

Sound waves are, as you say, vibrations transmitted through a medium. They are not part of the EM spectrum.

Read more:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_optics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound

BLUEBOMBER

Thursday, June 9, 2005 9:20 PM

Oh, wow! Learn something new every day. Thanks, y'all!

"Mwah ha ha ha...mine is an evil laugh. Now die."

SICKDUDE

Thursday, June 9, 2005 10:15 PM

I thought radio waves moved through the ether.

Wait a minute, my science textbook is copyrighted 1907. Dangit....

"Don't say 'ka' until you've tried it." Daniel Jackson

FINN MAC CUMHAL

Thursday, June 9, 2005 10:30 PM

Yeah radio waves are not actual physical waves. In fact they aren’t necessarily waves at all. The wave nature of the EM spectrum is a mathematical construct. We don’t actually know how EM waves travel. We can model them mathematically as waves, but we can also model them as particles and get the same results. Whether or not this says anything about how EM waves physically travel is debatable.

And we shouldn’t be too quick to dismiss the “ether” theory either.

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Qui desiderat pacem praeparet bellum.

SHINY

Thursday, June 9, 2005 10:56 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Finn mac Cumhal:
And we shouldn’t be too quick to dismiss the “ether” theory either.

Metcalf made a pretty penny on the ether stuff, so I'm not dismissing it...

Jayne, your mouth is talkin. Might want to look into that.

GROUNDED

Thursday, June 9, 2005 11:12 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Finn mac Cumhal:
And we shouldn’t be too quick to dismiss the “ether” theory either.

Oh really?

FINN MAC CUMHAL

Thursday, June 9, 2005 11:43 PM

Yep.

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Qui desiderat pacem praeparet bellum.

GUNRUNNER

Friday, June 10, 2005 12:10 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by BlueBomber:
There's no sound in space because sound waves require some sort of medium (like air) to travel through. Since space is one big vacuum, there's no air and hence no sound.

Cool science stuff on that subject:
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/mystery_monday_030922.html

EV Nova Firefly mod Message Board:
http://s4.invisionfree.com/GunRunner/index.php?act=idx

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