• Question: since there is no air in space dose that mean there is no sound waves

    Asked by david7 to Susana, Sam, Ed, Dave, Ben on 19 Jun 2013. This question was also asked by katieannx.
    • Photo: Sam Horrell

      Sam Horrell answered on 19 Jun 2013:

      That is exactly correct. There is no material there to conduct the sound so space is completely silent, despite what many movies will explosions in space would have you think. This is the basis for the iconic tag line to the alien films “In space no one can hear you scream”.

    • Photo: David Briggs

      David Briggs answered on 19 Jun 2013:

      Yup – you are spot on 🙂

    • Photo: Benjamin Hall

      Benjamin Hall answered on 20 Jun 2013:

      Yes. Space is a near perfect vaccum. There simply aren’t enough particles there capable of propagating sound waves.

      I find it interesting that some forms of energy can travel through a vacuum and others can’t. Light has no problem with vacuums but sound can’t get through. Amazing, isn’t it?

    • Photo: Susana Teixeira

      Susana Teixeira answered on 20 Jun 2013:

      Yes it does, no sound that we can detect. There simply aren’t enough particles in space for our ears to be able to detect anything being propagated through them.

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