Scientists Create Sound So Loud It Can Rupture Your Heart + Boil Water
Remember when Dethklok wanted to record their album in the Marianas Trench in the ocean? It turns out they weren't complete dunderheads as scientists have just created an underwater sound so loud that it instantly boils water and could even rupture your heart and lungs if heard outside of an aquatic surrounding. In other words, it's the most brutal sound ever created.
A team of researchers, which included members from the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, directed small blasts of water at powerful X-rays that instantly vaporized the surrounding water, resulting in a shockwave. A train of shockwaves followed and once the threshold for how intense underwater sound can get was crossed, the water then formed small bubbles, which quickly decayed.
This indicates that scientists have reached the potential limit for how loud sound can be when observed in a liquid water state.
The study, which was published April 10 in Physical Review Fluids, states that the sound pressure exceeded 270 decibels. That's louder than a rocket launch at takeoff. Cnet observes that if this sound is experienced directly, it will not only destroy your eardrums, but it has the potential to rupture your heart and lungs.
So, what's next for sound and science? Maybe one day we'll finally locate the infamous "brown note" then we can talk about South Park instead of Metalocalypse. Cartoons... they're onto something.
See Dethklok in the 50 Most Important Metal Bands in the 21st Century