Send to a Friend
How does sound multiply?
)
November 8th, 2014
My family and I were discussing the properties of sound tonight. My son explained that fans of one college football team will flap their wallets in union, creating a deafening roar. Another group of fans will jiggle their keys, also creating a high pitched roar.
A question came up—how does that happen? The slap of a wallet has to be about 50–60 decibels. If there are 100 wallets slapping at 50 decibels each, logically, it seems that the unified sound should remain 50 decibels since nothing is there to amplify it over 50…
But that isn’t what happens—sounds created at the same level of loudness do compound and escalate, amplifying itself to much higher decibels.
How does that happen, scientifically? How do sounds created at the same Db compound to become louder?
Using Fluther
or
