My question is simple. I heard that a ducks quack does not echo. Is this true? If so then why? I figure it has something to do with the way the sound is made and how it travels?
be kind
All sound echoes, including ducks’ quacks. Straight from Cecil’s mouth.
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_071.html
Welcome to the boards!
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Enjoy!
Muscovy ducks will not produce an echo.
They also don’t quack. They just hiss.
A hiss will echo too, you just might not be able to hear it.
Duck’s quacks are not sound at all. They are, in fact, micro-burst psychic emanations. Akin to the language of dolphins, these emanations are not picked up by your ears, but are rather de-coded by you cerebral cortex. Echoes are essentially sound waves reflecting off of rigid surfaces and returning to your ears again a moment later. Depending on the volume of sound, it can reflect back and forth many times. But it is not the case of micro-burst psychic emanations. This phenomena, found in ducks, dolphins, and donkeys, is decoded as sound by your brain – but it isn’t sound. It travels through the universal ether and is thus not effected by intervening objects. Hence, ducks quacks do not echo.
–CoffeeGuy
People don’t generally get grumpy if you ask questions that have already been answered. They get grumpy if you ask questions that have repeatedly been asked and answered.
Is it true that when ducks quack, there is no echo?
Does a duck’s quack echo?
Duck Quacks and Echos
Duck quacks don’t echo? and other “facts”
Do duck’s quacks echo?
A duck’s quack does not echo
Hey you SDers.
Sometimes there are questions that bear repeating and the Duck Quacking Echo question is a classic that is begging to be revived! So “gtg329b”, welcome to the board, and thanks for re-asking a bonafide, SD-worthy question!
I would rather see a good SD-worthy question repeat, than countless repeats of “How do I fix my Windows 2000 taskbar” query!!!
You’re kidding, right?
Oh man, I hope you’re kidding …:rolleyes:
Hey bradwalt, why don’t you ask about the three words that end in gry?
In studying the physics of “whispering gallery” modes, where sound bounces around walls and can “miss” an observer closer to the source, while being perfectly audible to someone farther away (but properly placed), we observe a curious phenomemon. When the sound is emitted by a fake doctor, it is anomalously heard to be louder and more discernible by a person standing closer to the doctor than to one farther away, yet at one of the optiomum points for the “whispering gallery” effect. This is because, as every Doper should know…
…The Echo of a Quack will not Duck.
Thank You.
bradwalt, does size really matter?
How DO I fix my Windows 2000 taskbar, anyway?
I could never understand how anyone could even entertain the notion that ducks’ quacks don’t echo. An echo is nothing more than a sonic reflection. Now, light reflects off things, too. Sure you can have interference, and some surfaces reflect better than others; The same could be said for sound.
However, if I told you that <animal X> has no reflection in a mirror, the same people who think that maybe ducks’ quacks might not echo would think I was loony. I dunno, maybe light is just more intuitive than sound.
Good try Coffee Guy, but wrong. The real* reason relies on the three following facts:
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Ducks don’t quack very loud, as at a somewhat high frequency.
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Ducks are very social animals. Polite to a fault. Certainly everyone know the old duck hunting strategy–Shoot one then wait for it’s mate is come around and see what happened, then shoot it.
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Ducks are bird brains.
Point one fits in in so far that over great distances, such as across the Pecos river gorge in West Texas, the quack’s echo is attenuated that it is essentially non-existant.
Point fits in in so far that ducks instictively shut up and listen to what ever the other duck (actually its echo) is saying.
Point fits in because they’re so dumb they can’t just close their beak but rather trails off. This blends in with the reflected sound of it’s quack so that it seems to be simply part of the qvack.
*-As real as Pychic micro bursts.
Only if it ends in gry and drives in the parkway and parks in the driveway.
gtg329b Welcome to the boards, enjoy your stay. I saw 14 replies and knew that someone had already answered your question, but I chimed in just because the SD report on this is one of the funniest I have ever read. I don’t usually laugh out loud at stuff I’m reading, but I did when I read that.
But since I also see that you are new, I’m glad I stopped to issue a welcome. Have fun here, they are mostly a good group. (And most of these guys are just teasing you a little.)
Ok…I’m re-hashing here, but I have to…
A duck walks into a drug store and buys some cold tablets. The pharmacist asks if it will be cash or charge and the duck says…
Put it on my bill.
drum beat
Not cold tablets, lip balm.