Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Does sound travel in water?

Well, physics will have you believe that it does. But have you ever experienced anything that would suggest that sound travels beneath the surface of water. Have you ever heard anyone talk underwater?
There is, of course, a very worrying problem associated with speaking underwater: the moment you open your mouth, water will make its presence felt within your mouth. Not a very pleasing experience. This has always deterred me from speaking underwater.
However, I think I can convince some poor, stupid soul into attempting this (assuming that he overlooks the water-in-mouth incident that will inevitably occur). Before the inevitable surge of water in his mouth, if the poor idiot manages to speak a few words, I might be able to solve a mystery that has intrigued me for a long, long time.
If one of the aforementioned idiots is reading this post, then please feel free to volunteer by means of a comment. After, science must triumph in the end.

11 comments:

blog.sahil.me said...

maybe the last line should be 'after all'.....maybe not :)
no, i'm not one of the 'aforementioned idiots', so don't even ask...

[\\Kartikeya//] said...

ya same here:D..i aint no idiot:D
but u noe..if u make a 'hmm' sound without opening ur mouth..u can hear it though faintly..o and once..this guy farted in the swimming pool..so i kinda heard it:P..so i gess sound DOES travel in water.

RG said...

Even if he does manage to speak under the water, it'll just become an air bubble...unless the water already filled his mouth...in which case it becomes a vibrating sound (eg: hmm).

Dhruv said...

Yeah, I guess you're right RG.

Bharat said...

actually, i am one of the aforementioned idiots and i can confirm that sounds does travel in water, although conversation is somewhat difficult because the sound is heavily distorted. but primal human emotions can be conveyed effectively.

Dhruv said...

Interesting, Bharat. So someone has tried it out. Nice.

sid said...

um drop a coin at the other end of the pool and i assure you that you can hear it all the way across the length of the pool ( given there is no hopless swimmer thrashing away in between ).

Of course talking is completely diffrent.

another thing.... if you can fart under water without water filling up your gut, then nature has once again created a perfectely one-way valve.

:)

sid

Dhruv said...

Haha.
Thats probably because when you fart, the repulsive gas exerts pressure on the water and ensures that your anal tract doesnt get filled up with water.
On the other hand, to speak, you must first open your mouth and then the air will escape your mouth. In that interval, water will makes its way into your alimentary canal.
Ah, physics.

Anonymous said...

ur disrespectful to us

Anonymous said...

f**** u

Anonymous said...

nd u say we r idiots!lol u need to kno how to write betta!