I'm puzzled

[Mr. dB]

If you go into an anechoic chamber and put your ear up to a seashell, does it still sound like the ocean?

 

[silver_shadow]

i guess it should. similarly what would happen if you held the shell near your ear in space? i'm guessing that you wouldn't hear any sound in that case.

 

[Mr. dB]

Not many acoustics geeks in here I guess?

 

[samoth]

Not many acoustics geeks in here I guess?

They only teach optics and not acoustics in physics courses. Lemme think about this one.

 

[Scotsman]

I would think you'd still hear something. The chamber doesn't stop the movement of air which is what causes the shell to work. Might even make it louder as you won't have background noise.

Cheers,
Scotsman

 

[blut wump]

Once you put the shell to your ear then you've created your own little closed system inside the anechoic chamber.

If the sounds in the shell normally are caused by a focusing or amplification of ambient noise then it should be silent.

However, I note that you'd be holding it and having it pressed against your skull. The movement of your own blood, heart and lungs would induce vibrations in the shell which it would amplify. You'd hear the sea.

If the shell were suspended in the chamber and you could merely approach but not make contact with it then I think there'd be no sea.

 

[mikefear]

well if you were in space, no...

the sounds waves would need a medium through which they would travel. lacking this medium, the sound would be non-existant, therefore inaudible

 

[Mr. dB]

well if you were in space, no...

the sounds waves would need a medium through which they would travel. lacking this medium, the sound would be non-existant, therefore inaudible

An anechoic chamber is not space. It has a normal nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere, sound can propogate in there. It is merely a room in which the walls are made to absorb as much sound as possible to eliminate any resonance or echo. Such a room is used for acoustic testing, such as to test the frequency response of a loudspeaker without the effect of room boundaries.

Two people in an anechoic chamber may speak to each other and converse normally (and breathe...). But the room does not reinforce their sound.

 

[mikefear]

An anechoic chamber is not space. It has a normal nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere, sound can propogate in there. It is merely a room in which the walls are made to absorb as much sound as possible to eliminate any resonance or echo. Such a room is used for acoustic testing, such as to test the frequency response of a loudspeaker without the effect of room boundaries.

Two people in an anechoic chamber may speak to each other and converse normally (and breathe...). But the room does not reinforce their sound.

i was replying to silver shadow .. he asked what would happen in space.