Mason Blake
Sound travels at about 760 miles per hour (1,223 kilometers per hour) through air. However, in space, there is no air or water, and sound needs a medium to travel. Space is a vacuum, meaning it contains almost no matter, and therefore, sound cannot travel through it. While space is mostly empty, it is not a perfect vacuum and has some particles floating through it. In 2022, NASA released an audible recording of sound in space, representing the way a massive black hole stirs up plasma in the Perseus galaxy cluster. This sound was 57 octaves below middle C, which is the middle note on a piano, and was raised to an audible range.
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What You'll Learn
Sound waves need a medium to travel
Sound does not travel in space. This is because sound is a mechanical wave that requires a medium to travel through. In other words, sound moves when molecules in a medium (solid, liquid, or gas) bump into each other, transferring energy from one to the next. In space, there are no molecules to carry sound waves because it is a vacuum, meaning it contains almost no matter.
Sound is a type of mechanical wave that requires a medium to travel through. This means that sound needs a substance, such as air, water, or even solid matter, to move through. In space, there is no air or water, and the matter is too spread out to act as a medium for sound waves.
However, it is important to note that while space is a vacuum, it is not a perfect vacuum and does contain some particles. In 2022, NASA released an audible recording of sound in space. The recording was made using X-ray data and represents the sound of a massive black hole stirring up plasma in the Perseus galaxy cluster. While the black hole itself does not emit sound, the diffuse plasma around it carries very long-wavelength sound waves. These sound waves are far too low in frequency for humans to hear, but when the frequency is raised to the audible range, the result is a deep growling sound.
Additionally, sound waves can travel through stars, and these sound waves are encoded in the light that we see from the stars. This is a field of study called astroseismology. However, the sounds produced by stars are not audible to humans and are detected through electromagnetic radiation or data sonification.
In conclusion, while there are some instances of sound waves existing in space, the lack of a medium for sound to travel through means that, generally, sound does not travel in space.
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Space is a vacuum with no medium for sound to travel through
Sound travels when molecules in a medium (solid, liquid, or gas) bump into each other, passing energy from one to the other. This is how sound travels through the air on Earth. In space, there is no air—it is a vacuum with almost no matter. Therefore, there are no molecules for sound waves to travel through.
While space is a good enough vacuum that normal sound can't travel through it, it is not a perfect vacuum. There are some particles floating through it, mostly hydrogen atoms. However, the density of these particles is extremely low. In a typical cubic centimeter—the volume of a sugar cube—there are only five particles beyond the Earth and its atmosphere. This density decreases with distance from the Sun. In the vast voids between galaxies, it is a million times lower still.
In a low-density medium, sound waves travel much faster and have a much longer wavelength. However, the physics of sound waves in a plasma—the physical state of the matter in space—becomes complicated. Plasma is a gas in which electrons are separated from protons. While some sounds can be detected from extremely low-density matter in deep space, space is generally regarded as a very poor carrier of high-frequency sounds. This is because the highest-frequency pressure wave that can be transmitted has a wavelength of about the mean free path (MFP) of gas particles. The MFP in space is large, so the frequency limit is low.
As there is no medium for sound to travel through in space, there is also no echo. An echo occurs when a sound wave hits a hard, flat surface and bounces back in the direction it came from. However, this does not mean that there is silence in space. While sound cannot travel through a vacuum, other forms of energy, such as light and radio waves, can. Radio waves are a form of electromagnetic radiation, and astronauts use two-way radio communicators in their spacesuits to transmit and receive audio signals.
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Sound is carried by atoms and molecules, which are lacking in space
Sound is carried by atoms and molecules. When sound moves through your throat, air molecules near your mouth bump into their neighbours, which in turn bump into their neighbours, and the sound moves through the air. The sound wave travels quickly, about 760 miles per hour (1,223 kilometres per hour), which is faster than a commercial jet.
Space is a vacuum, which means it contains almost no matter. The word "vacuum" comes from the Latin word for "empty". In space, with no atoms or molecules to carry a sound wave, there is no sound. There is nothing to get in the way of sound in space, but there is nothing to carry it, so it does not travel at all.
While space is a good enough vacuum that normal sound cannot travel through it, it is not a perfect vacuum, and it does have some particles floating through it. Beyond the Earth and its atmosphere, there are five particles in a typical cubic centimetre – the volume of a sugar cube – that are mostly hydrogen atoms. By contrast, the air we breathe is 10 billion billion (1019) times denser.
The density goes down with distance from the Sun, and in the vast voids between galaxies, it is a million times lower still – fantastically empty. The voids of space are kept very hot by radiation from stars. The very spread-out matter found there is in a physical state called a plasma. A plasma is a gas in which electrons are separated from protons. In a plasma, the physics of sound waves get complicated. Waves travel much faster in this low-density medium, and their wavelength is much longer.
However, because sound is just vibrating air, space has no air to vibrate and therefore no sound. If you are sitting in a spaceship and another spaceship explodes, you would hear nothing. Exploding bombs, crashing asteroids, supernovas, and burning planets would be silent in space.
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Radio waves can travel through the vacuum of space
Sound does not travel in space. This is because sound waves are mechanical waves that require a medium (solid, liquid, or gas) to travel. In space, there are almost no air molecules to carry a sound wave, so it doesn't travel at all.
Radio waves, on the other hand, are a form of electromagnetic radiation, just like light. They can travel through the vacuum of space because they do not require a medium to propagate. Radio waves are created by oscillating electric and magnetic fields, which exist in all of space. Therefore, radio waves can travel through the vacuum of space without interruption, as long as they are not impeded by an object.
The Scottish scientist James Clerk Maxwell first developed a scientific theory to explain electromagnetic waves in the 1860s and 1870s. He noticed that electrical and magnetic fields could couple to form electromagnetic waves and summarized his findings in what are now known as "Maxwell's Equations." Heinrich Hertz, a German physicist, later applied Maxwell's theories to the production and reception of radio waves. He demonstrated that the velocity of radio waves was equal to the velocity of light, proving that radio waves are a form of light.
Radio waves can travel infinitely far in a vacuum at the speed of light (2.998 x 10^8 m/s). The furthest radio waves detected by telescopes have traveled nearly 14 billion miles. However, it is important to note that space is not a perfect vacuum, and at distances of billions of miles, photons can become red-shifted due to the expansion of the universe or other factors such as gravity.
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Sound travels faster in low-density mediums
Sound cannot travel through a vacuum as there is no medium for the vibrations to travel through. Space is a vacuum, which means it contains almost no matter. However, it is not a perfect vacuum and has some particles floating through it. Beyond the Earth and its atmosphere, the density goes down with distance from the Sun. In the vast voids between galaxies, the density is fantastically low.
Sound moves through air by molecules bumping into their neighbours, which in turn bump into their neighbours, and the sound moves through the air. Sound travels faster through solids because the molecules are closer together and more tightly bonded. It is harder for sound to pass through gases than liquids because gaseous molecules are farther apart. The density of a medium also affects the speed of sound, with sound travelling faster in mediums with higher elastic properties. For example, sound travels faster through aluminium than gold because aluminium has a lower density.
In a low-density medium, such as the plasma found in the voids of space, the physics of sound waves get complicated. Waves travel much faster in this low-density medium, and their wavelength is much longer. While sound cannot travel through the vacuum of space, some sounds can be detected from extremely low-density matter in deep space.
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Frequently asked questions
No, sound does not travel in space. This is because space is a vacuum, lacking the matter to carry sound waves.
Sound needs a medium (solid, liquid, or gas) to travel. In space, there are no atoms or molecules to carry a sound wave.
Yes, while space is a good enough vacuum to prevent normal sound from travelling, it is not a perfect vacuum. There are some particles floating through it, mostly hydrogen atoms. Sound waves can travel through these particles, and NASA has released an audible recording of sound in space.
