Astronomer Explains Why There Are Actually Sounds in Space

Here’s what science says about it

According to the conventional wisdom, space is a void. But things are not as simple as they seem.

What we think of as “sound” is actually just vibration passing through some material.

If space were truly a complete vacuum, then the slogan “In space, no one can hear you scream” would be true. But it’s more complicated than that.

 

Astronomer Explains Why There Are Actually Sounds in Space
© NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Project

Interplanetary space is much rarefied than we think. Each cubic centimeter contains only a few dozen particles (that is, any matter, be it an atom, a molecule, a subatomic particle). The interstellar medium is only 100 particles per cubic meter, the intergalactic medium is one particle per cubic meter.

It turns out that in nebulae and other celestial regions the matter is denser. For example, the typical density of the Orion nebulae is about 10,000 particles per cubic centimeter.

The problem is that the nebula’s space is not large enough to support sound waves. But if the material in it is dense enough, it becomes viscous and even turbulent, gradually turning into planets. These conditions depend on the speed of sound inside the disk, and without them, the particles there would tend to orbit the star, not creating planets at all. In other words, without sound in space, we simply would not exist.

 

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