yoosernamesarehard t1_itzp76a wrote
Reply to comment by kajxqeirscl in Every language travels at the speed of sound, except sign language that travels at the speed of light by _somename_
You’d never hear the sound even if they were “relatively” close to each other, like right next to each other. Sound works by vibrating molecules, primarily air since it’s everywhere. Sound also travels through solid objects which is why you can hear vibrations of objects. So it works by vibrating molecules. In space, there are no cohesive molecules. The sun is a sustained nuclear reaction and if we were able to hear it, we would be deafened by it. But we don’t hear it because there’s nothing for the sound waves to vibrate through. With space between earth and the moon, any sound that originates from one celestial body to another ceases to exist once it enters into space because there is nothing there for sound to travel to.
NiuMeee t1_itzungv wrote
It's just a hypothetical bro.
Memestrats4life t1_itzyi3w wrote
It was just a hypothetical- until we started adding real calculations in; then you have to account for the fact that it's all meaningless
Muroid t1_itzzmox wrote
You can hypothetically measure the time it would take sound to travel through air a distance equivalent to the distance from the Earth to the moon even if it would not be possible for sound to actually travel from the real moon to the real Earth.
Memestrats4life t1_itzzq8t wrote
Or you can hypothetically be correct and save time
YookCat t1_iu09dnh wrote
I don’t think you understand the point of hypotheticals. They’re not meant to be taken literal. It’s more of a wisdom check as opposed to an intelligence check, honestly.
It wouldn’t save time to just say the sound can’t make it, either. Even if we were doing things your way… that proceeds to leave the original premise of the hypothetical unsolved, meaning we would need to make an entirely new hypothetical to demonstrate the sound/light speed difference. If we take everything literally, it takes us more time.
Additionally, just in case you think hypotheticals are useless entirely and we should just say the facts, helping people “visualize” things is a part of the point. Examples, demonstrations, and so on are ways of teaching things, which is similar to what this hypothetical was attempting to achieve.
Memestrats4life t1_iu09x0q wrote
I see that- and do enjoy your wisdom/intelligence point- but think that dedicating time to finding exact mathematical answers to them while disregarding the most major aspect of those calculations is pointless
kajxqeirscl t1_iu0yqvy wrote
well no shit, we're just saying if sound was able to travle through vacuum at the same speed it does through air. You didn't have to write an essay.
Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments