But what about the loudest sound ever heard? On the morning of 27 August 1883, on the Indonesian island of Krakatoa, a volcanic eruption produced what scientists believe to be the loudest sound produced on the surface of the planet, estimated at 310 decibels (dB).
The loudest sound in recorded history came from the volcanic eruption on the Indonesian island Krakatoa at 10.02 a.m. on August 27, 1883. The explosion caused two thirds of the island to collapse and formed tsunami waves as high as 46 m (151 ft) rocking ships as far away as South Africa.
At 194 dB, the energy in the sound waves starts distorting and they create a complete vacuum between themselves. The sound is no longer moving through the air, but is in fact pushing the air along with it, forming a pressurized wall of moving air.
The Krakatoa explosion registered 172 decibels at 100 miles from the source. This is so astonishingly loud, that it's inching up against the limits of what we mean by “sound.”
First 1000 dB is a physical impossibility, anything over 150dB would burst your eardrums, anything over 194dB is no longer sound and anything over 200dB is fatal.
Sounds above 150 dB have the potential of causing life-threatening issues. Sounds between 170-200 dB are so intense that they can cause lethal issues like pulmonary embolisms, pulmonary contusions, or even burst lungs.
A nuclear bomb.
Decibel meters set 250 feet away from test sites peaked at 210 decibels. The sound alone is enough to kill a human being, so if the bomb doesn't kill you, the noise will. Fun fact!
Apparently, a sound of 1,100 decibels would create so much energy, it would act as a immensely high quantity of mass. This would, in turn, create enough gravity to form an extremely large black hole! Larger, in fact, than our observable universe.
Hailey et al.) For the first time in history, earthlings can hear what a black hole sounds like: a low-pitched groaning, as if a very creaky heavy door was being opened again and again.
Sounds above 150 dB have the potential of causing life-threatening issues. Sounds between 170-200 dB are so intense that they can cause lethal issues like pulmonary embolisms, pulmonary contusions, or even burst lungs. As for exploding heads, you can expect that from sounds above 240 dB.
The loudest controlled manmade sounds in history were produced this week--not by a rock band, but by a physicist.
Sounds above 90 dB can lead to chronic hearing damage if people are exposed to them every day or all the time. Hearing becomes uncomfortable if the sound pressure level is above 110 decibels (threshold of discomfort), and it becomes painful above 130 decibels (threshold of pain).
Sound is measured in decibels (dB). A whisper is about 30 dB, normal conversation is about 60 dB, and a motorcycle engine running is about 95 dB. Noise above 70 dB over a prolonged period of time may start to damage your hearing. Loud noise above 120 dB can cause immediate harm to your ears.
Light does not really affect sound. Sound is made of vibrations (aka rapid pressure fluctuations) in air, water, or solid material.
Riveting machine (110 dB); live rock music (108 - 114 dB). Average human pain threshold. 16 times as loud as 70 dB. Jet take-off (at 305 meters), use of outboard motor, power lawn mower, motorcycle, farm tractor, jackhammer, garbage truck.
A sonic black hole, sometimes called a dumb hole or acoustic black hole, is a phenomenon in which phonons (sound perturbations) are unable to escape from a region of a fluid that is flowing more quickly than the local speed of sound.
There are more than a few popular myths that have permeated the annals of space history, including one that the launch of th Saturn V rocket was so loud that the sound itself melted concrete and set fire to grass more than a mile away. Sadly, as many myths go, that's simply not true.
There is at least some testing footage from the era that features sound. It is jarring to hear. The boom is more like a shotgun than a thunderclap, and it's followed by a sustained roar. Here's one example, from a March 1953 test at Yucca Flat, the nuclear test site in the Nevada desert.
There is no real credible capability to shoot down an incoming intercontinental ballistic missile. No nation really has a credible capability in this respect. Whilst anti-ballistic missile technology exists, current technological advances do not stretch to a capable system to protect against even a limited ICBM attack.
Stay inside. Close and lock all windows and doors. Go to the basement or the middle of the building. Radioactive material settles on the outside of buildings; so the best thing to do is stay as far away from the walls and roof of the building as you can.
How loud is a gunshot? Decibel levels for firearms average between 140 and 165 dB.
German researcher Jurgen Altmann showed that a blast of 210 decibels or more affects the inner organs — the lungs — and could cause internal injury that could lead to death.
Sonic booms generate enormous amounts of sound energy, about 110 decibels, like the sound of an explosion or a thunderclap.