Mars is a planet that has long fascinated astronomers. Knowing what this celestial body looks like is the main goal of the persevering robo-bot and its helicopter of creativity, which has been on the Red Planet for just over a year. Now, through experience, the NASA has been able to verify how the sound travels On Mars and how common sounds on Earth can be heard there.
The atmosphere of Mars is completely different from that of the Earth and The speed at which sound travels on Mars varies On the ground. At the 53rd Congress of Planetary and Lunar Sciences, scientist Baptiste Scheid of Los Alamos National Laboratory in the US revealed that sound fluctuates on the Red Planet.
These results, duplicated in “ScienceAlert“, indicates that high-pitched sounds travel faster than low-pitched sounds on Mars. This is because the speed of sound propagation depends on the density and temperature of the medium it travels; For example, sound travels faster through steel or water than through air.
Therefore, the Sound moves faster if the medium is denser. However, Mars’ atmosphere is thinner or less dense than Earth’s, from 0.020 kg/m3 to 1.2 kg/m3, respectively. This fact means that the sounds on both planets are spread differently.
The Persevering Rover Measures the Sound of Mars
Now that NASA has launched March mission 2020The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration is investigating this phenomenon. thanks for the Android perseverance And its SuperCam microphone, scientists can listen to sound on Mars through a laser that emits noise.
Through tests with this microphone, Tchid and his team Measure the time between the laser shot and the sound Which reached the SuperCam, which has a height of 2.1 meters. In this way, the measurement of the speed of sound on the surface of Mars began, and the results supported previous predictions: near the surface, sounds on the surface of Mars spread out at about 240 meters per second. The speed on the ground is 340 meters per second.
Characteristics of sound on Mars
“Due to the unique properties of low-pressure carbon dioxide particles, Mars is the only terrestrial atmosphere in the solar system to experience change in the speed of sound Right in the middle of the audible bandwidth,” Science Alert gathers from project researchers.
On Mars, with frequencies above 240 Hz, the vibrational patterns of carbon dioxide molecules activated by the collision do not have time to return to their normal state. The result is that sound on the red planet travels more than 10 meters per second. Faster at higher frequencies than at the lowest levels.
This may lead to what researchers call a “A unique listening experience” On Mars, higher-pitched sounds reach the listener earlier than lower-pitched sounds.
How do you hear a song or a doorbell on Mars?
NASA created a file web page which is possible Compare the same sound And how it can be heard on Earth or on the Red Planet. For example, you can tell the difference between hearing the sound of a bird surrounding on Earth or on Mars, where it is barely noticeable.
In the case of the waves or the bell of a bike, these sounds are heard on Mars quite a bit. The sound of a truck reflecting off the surface of Mars is heard, but very quietly. Another option provided by NASA is to listen Moonlight by Claude Debussy. This song will be appreciated on Mars, even though its sound is lower than that of Earth.
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