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The science behind Singing Sand Dunes

submitted by Ornthoron

1 decade 3 years 3 weeks ago

"Some sand dunes can “sing”, but not because of the wind! When loose sand slides down over harder, packed sand, a standing wave is formed, causing the entire surface of the dune to vibrate on a single frequency. We hear this as a musical note - typically an E, F, or G."
-via Fuck Yeah Fluid Dynamics

11 Comments

Ah, The Didgeridoo of the desert!

This makes me want to go back to Death Valley. I love that place!

Bees!

*quality science!

Boosting this quality contribution up in the Hot Listing - declared quality by JiggaJonson.

This is science. You find something cool and strange, you develop a hypothesis, you test it, you observe, you draw conclusions, it's no longer as strange, but still as cool. I love it.

truth-is-the-nemesis

kudos on the educational video:)

Interesting stuff. I assume it's always the same E, F or G frequency just below concert A (440 hz)? or the next octave lower?

I wonder why no F#, or did he leave it out for the sake of brevity. I'll have to read more on this.

>> ^ulysses1904:

Interesting stuff. I assume it's always the same E, F or G frequency just below concert A (440 hz)? or the next octave lower?
I wonder why no F#, or did he leave it out for the sake of brevity. I'll have to read more on this.

If you look closely at the spectrum they show, the energy is just below 100 Hz. So, the G they are referring to is 98 Hz. ..and yeah, it would be continuously variable, so F# is possible.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'sand, dunes, sing, vibrate, sound, granular medium, butt science' to 'sand, dunes, sing, vibrate, sound, granular medium, butt science, booming dunes' - edited by xxovercastxx

>> ^alizarin:

Bees!

Locus

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