Explosions in Space

Why In Star-Trek or Star-Wars or whatever space-type film, do we always hear the sounds of exploding starships? Space is a a vacuum. There is no air for sound to travel in.

Ridley Scott got it right ...'In space No One Can Hear You Scream'

Yes I always wondered that too.....we watch a lot of space related documentaries (recently a series called "The Universe" which is very interesting) and they do it too....when they show a computer generated image of, for example, a black hole moving through space, it is always accompanied by a heavy moving sound lol.

Hey SunnyP I watched that aswell good series.

Star Wars creator George Lucas was asked about this very thing and his answer was basically, "Who says their universe operates like ours?". Lame reply, but then he is the toad-necked creator.

Stanely Kubrick got it right in "2001: A Space Odyssey".

Doesnt Kubrick always get it right? He is God.

Probably the same way Dave Bowman survived outside the pod for those few seconds. And the movie Sunshine, anyone seen that? Very cool, i highly recomend it. Two guys wrap themselves in foil and spaceship insulation and try to jetison themselves across the divide to the other platform.

It is a very cool movie though.

p.s. I'm like the only person i know that liked Eyes Wide Shut.

I might move this to media as it is more about that then actual space....unless someone would like to get it back on topic?

Is there sound in space?


Sound travels in waves like light or heat does, but unlike them, sound travels by making molecules vibrate. So, in order for sound to travel, there has to be something with molecules for it to travel through. On Earth, sound travels to your ears by vibrating air molecules. In deep space, the large empty areas between stars and planets, there are no molecules to vibrate. There is no sound there.

I was just reading here that H2O is an excellent medium for sound to travel through.

"Is that correct John?"
"Dammit Jin, I'm a hunter not a scientist!"

solarchap wrote:Why In Star-Trek or Star-Wars or whatever space-type film, do we always hear the sounds of exploding starships? Space is a a vacuum. There is no air for sound to travel in.

Ridley Scott got it right ...'In space No One Can Hear You Scream'

Two words: dramatic effect.

I am gonna love this section!

wow!

SBP, is that the seires narrated by John Hurt? Channel four thing? If so where can I get it!

Shams, the toad-neck must be given some deference, simply by sheer virtue, & sound does travel in water but it does become muted somewhat (you can try this by submerging in the bath and listening to the radio, flatulating whilst submereged won't so much mute as amplify the sound in question!

Molly, dramatic effect it has to be, the main means by which they purvey this paradox!

and what about when they shoot their photon torpedos.....

light travels at the speed of light! you don't see it moving through space!

When you shine a torch, you don't see the light travel towards whatever you are pointing it at, you see it when it interferes with the object.

ok it is true in a very dusty room you can see flecks of dust as you shine the light, and yes, interstellar space is full of dust, BUt! the density per cubic meter is so small as to be not even worth mentioning, so from now on, I ONLY wanna see the photon torpedos when they HIT the other ship!

Dramatic effect not withstanding of course!

I've been thinking about NASA footage. Particularly when they use the retro-rockets to steady the shuttle or when they are on a spacewalk. I can almost swear i've heard the pfft pfft pfft, but i could just be imagining it. And putting a mic on camera in space seems a little redundant. There is no air, so there is nothing to carry a soundwave. And you would think when the re-entry rockets on the shuttle go off it would make some kind of sound if a mic was put close enough. You would probably only pick up the mic vibrating apart though.

Lateralus that is excellent! Now I think about it, I am POSITIVE I have heard that pfft pfft pfft noise too!

Pfft pfft pfft is also the only way I know how to spell that sound Hannibal Lecter makes.....mmmm Clarice...pfft pfft pfft!

good spot Latters!

scolarchap I belive it was a series on the history channel you can probally find it in rerunns I have 4 saved on my dvr. secrets of the sun,beyond the big bang,gravity and cosmic Apocalypse.

solarchap wrote:and what about when they shoot their photon torpedos.....

light travels at the speed of light! you don't see it moving through space!

Although they're called photon torpedos, once they got into the pseudo-scientific era, photon torpedos became a physical, "metallic item -- semi-cylindrical, aprox 2 meters long", therefore party to the laws of inertia and drag, and not moving at the speed of light.

And, since sound travels through matter (gas, liquid, or solid), it will at least carry (for a short distance) on the gasses expelled from said explosion. The perspective of the listener has to be fudged in movies anyway -- where are the "microphones in space"?

We have watched it on Virgins TV on demand and history channel.....im sure you can download it somewhere though. It is an awesome series.

this section is giving me a nerd-on!

mucho gracias vincenzo and SBP, I aint got the history channel, but I know a man who has, and will ask him to record them for me.

cagey, good points, i like it, it's good to know the writers then, at some point worked around it, but them fings seem to go very fast indeed, wouldn't that affect the metal projectile somehow? I bet they worked their way around that as well! LOL!

MSHL, thats fine as long as you don't go looking for train-numbers with a box of tissues in hand!