# How loud was the big bang? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 31, 2010, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loud-was-the-big-bang/558953 "2010-10-31T04:31:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ratmanizhere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b5ac83/32.png) [@ratmanizhere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratmanizhere)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loud-was-the-big-bang/558953/41 "2010-11-04T14:15:10Z")
In space, no one can hear you bang ---
**Author:** ![Shadowfyre](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfyre/32/9972_2.png) [@Shadowfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shadowfyre)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loud-was-the-big-bang/558953/42 "2010-11-04T16:59:09Z")
If a universe explodes into existence and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? [QUOTE=Confucius] What is the sound of one universe forming? [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Meow\_Max](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/59ef9b/32.png) [@Meow\_Max](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meow_Max)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2010, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loud-was-the-big-bang/558953/43 "2010-11-07T08:00:52Z")
Th Big Bang had no sound, as we understand the concept of “sound”. Certainly, there was a shock-wave propagating through the newly formed medium of ultra hot quark soup, but any interpretation of what that might have “sounded” like is purely speculation. On the other hand, we can be fairly certain about what sound _preceded_ the Big Bang. That sound was someone saying “Oops!” (and their voice probably was a great deal like that of Morgan Freeman 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2010, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loud-was-the-big-bang/558953/44 "2010-11-07T21:41:55Z")
On the other hand, the sound immediately preceding the Big Crunch will be “Spoo!” ---
**Author:** ![fuzzypickles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9d8465/32.png) [@fuzzypickles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fuzzypickles)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2010, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loud-was-the-big-bang/558953/45 "2010-11-07T22:14:36Z")
> [@Dag\_Otto](#): > > Ah, a 13 Billion BCE Style Deaf Ray > > :d&r: Yeah, you better get out of here, for using that “BCE” shit. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2010, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loud-was-the-big-bang/558953/46 "2010-11-08T02:04:08Z")
The above conversation fascinates me, but confuses me. The relation of pressure, as being discussed, is a “loudness,” which is fine fish to fry for the OP. But the cite to the NASA cite, and I think a few posters above, discuss frequency, which is different (Naughty NASA press office?). Can someone reiterate the possibility of the frequency (“pitch,” most definitely in quotes) of the events at †he scale we are talking about? My students always asked (if they knew a little) "if you keep going up higher in frequency (past the piccolo and beyond;),) would you eventually reach visible light? I always said no. Was I wrong? ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2010, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loud-was-the-big-bang/558953/47 "2010-11-08T02:05:27Z")
The above conversation fascinates me, but confuses me. The relation of pressure, as being discussed, is a “loudness,” which is fine fish to fry for the OP. But the cite to the NASA, and I think a few posters above, discuss frequency, which is different (Naughty NASA press office?). Can someone reiterate the possibility of the frequency (“pitch,” most definitely in quotes) of the events at †he scale we are talking about? My students always asked (if they knew a little) "if you keep going up higher in frequency (past the piccolo and beyond;),) would you eventually reach visible light? I always said no. Was I wrong? ---
**Author:** ![Meow\_Max](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/59ef9b/32.png) [@Meow\_Max](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meow_Max)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2010, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loud-was-the-big-bang/558953/48 "2010-11-08T04:33:50Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > The above conversation fascinates me, but confuses me. The relation of pressure, as being discussed, is a “loudness,” which is fine fish to fry for the OP. But the cite to the NASA, and I think a few posters above, discuss frequency, which is different (Naughty NASA press office?). > > Can someone reiterate the possibility of the frequency (“pitch,” most definitely in quotes) of the events at †he scale we are talking about? My students always asked (if they knew a little) "if you keep going up higher in frequency (past the piccolo and beyond;),) would you eventually reach visible light? > > I always said no. Was I wrong? You are correct - light requires the presence of photons, which while they exhibit wave like behavior, are not present in a sound wave, no matter what the frequency. You theoretically could get a sound wave up into the same frequency range as visible light, but it would NOT be light. I wonder if anyone has every done this? BTW, I have heard that certain sound waves interacting with certain materials can result in those materials emitting photons (light), but I am vague on the details of how this is accomplished. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2010, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loud-was-the-big-bang/558953/49 "2010-11-08T05:28:11Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Actually space wasn’t a vacuum then; not for a long time.\* > > As **BigT** says, space was coming into being at that point, so at the very start there wasn’t anything as such to have a “sound”; and immediately after space wasn’t filled with normal matter. Answering the question would require a definition of “sound” in this context that you are willing to accept. And it would require a knowledge of just what kind of turbulence existed during the early universe that I don’t think anyone has yet. > > \*And in fact it’s arguable if there’s no sound in a vacuum; space is full of charged gases that react to the passage of objects with shockwaves. The mechanism isn’t the same as in atmosphere and an ear could never “hear” it, but it does act rather like ordinary sound does. The right instrumentation would be perfectly capable of “hearing” the “sound” of a satellite or the Moon moving through space. This where I get twisted up. The shockwave of a piccolo in atmosphere–which of course has been measured–could never move up to the “shock wave of light” at different frequencies? If this has been answered authoritatively within the last few posts, just tell me and I’ll try to get my analogies straight. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2010, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loud-was-the-big-bang/558953/50 "2010-11-08T06:41:29Z")
> [@](#): > > You are correct - light requires the presence of photons, which while they exhibit wave like behavior, are not present in a sound wave, no matter what the frequency. You theoretically could get a sound wave up into the same frequency range as visible light, but it would NOT be light. I wonder if anyone has every done this? While this is correct in principle, if you could make some sort of mechanical oscillator at those frequencies, in practice it would end up emitting photons, too, since the pieces of the oscillator would be small enough that their charges would be significant. That’s where most molecular spectral lines come from, in fact. And a piccolo does not ever produce a shockwave. It’s a wave, all right, but it’s not a shock. Nor is a typical light wave a shock. ---
**Author:** ![KiLLa\_KAM\_666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a3d4f5/32.png) [@KiLLa\_KAM\_666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KiLLa_KAM_666)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loud-was-the-big-bang/558953/51 "2010-11-10T00:06:32Z")
(due to the white grapist and limist, I switched colors.) This is a huge amount of people commenting on this with multiple charter members commenting on this. What do the straight dope staff do all day? Is there a definite answer on my question without all the debate? What would be a close noise comparison to the big bang? (Would it be equal to every man, woman, and child jumping off a chair and screaming at the top of their lungs? Ha, I loved that question in The Straight Dope.) ---
**Author:** ![KiLLa\_KAM\_666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a3d4f5/32.png) [@KiLLa\_KAM\_666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KiLLa_KAM_666)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loud-was-the-big-bang/558953/52 "2010-11-10T03:19:48Z")
This is goin to Cecil now. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loud-was-the-big-bang/558953/53 "2010-11-10T03:25:12Z")
> [@](#): > > (due to the white grapist and limist, I switched colors.) This is a huge amount of people commenting on this with multiple charter members commenting on this. What do the straight dope staff do all day? Is there a definite answer on my question without all the debate? There is never any definite answer to anything in science. What you’re getting here is the best you’re going to get from anyone. ---
**Author:** ![KiLLa\_KAM\_666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a3d4f5/32.png) [@KiLLa\_KAM\_666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KiLLa_KAM_666)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loud-was-the-big-bang/558953/54 "2010-11-10T03:34:36Z")
Crap… I wanted a nice long formula, number of decibels, or a measurement in pressure. I’ll be back with another impossible question later, until then keep trying for some measurement. Numbers = what I’m looking for ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loud-was-the-big-bang/558953/55 "2010-11-10T03:53:54Z")
See [post 36](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=13094463&postcount=36). 1500 decibels. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loud-was-the-big-bang/558953/56 "2010-11-10T04:25:43Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > Is it possible to view the inhomogeneities of the CBR as primordial pressure waves (aka sound) “frozen” by cosmic inflation? The [link](http://faculty.washington.edu/jcramer/BBSound.html) I posted last week does just that. ---
**Author:** ![KiLLa\_KAM\_666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a3d4f5/32.png) [@KiLLa\_KAM\_666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KiLLa_KAM_666)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loud-was-the-big-bang/558953/57 "2010-11-12T03:20:49Z")
Wow, the sound was so low we wouldn’t even had heard it if it existed according to the link. 1500 decibels would be incorrect then because that’s way high. According to the decibel chart on [THE RELATIONSHIP OF VOLTAGE, LOUDNESS, POWER AND DECIBELS | Galen Carol Audio | Galen Carol Audio](http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/loudness.html) , it wouldn’t even be 1 decibel. The audio on the simulation had to be boosted because it wouldn’t be heard. 1500 compared to not even 0. Which is right? Chronos or Fubaya? ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loud-was-the-big-bang/558953/58 "2010-11-12T05:52:16Z")
> [@KiLLa\_KAM\_666](#): > > Wow, the sound was so low we wouldn’t even had heard it if it existed according to the link. 1500 decibels would be incorrect then because that’s way high. According to the decibel chart on [http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/loudness.html](http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/loudness.html) , it wouldn’t even be 1 decibel. The audio on the simulation had to be boosted because it wouldn’t be heard. 1500 compared to not even 0. Which is right? Chronos or Fubaya? I think both may be. The link uses the background radiation from about 100 thousand years after the big bang, Chronos was working around the instant of the big bang itself. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loud-was-the-big-bang/558953/59 "2010-11-12T19:56:20Z")
There’s no conflict between what we’re saying. **Fubaya** ’s link is about frequency, while my calculation was about intensity. Combine the two results, and you can say that the Big Bang was extremely loud and extremely low-pitched. The simulation didn’t need to turn up the volume; it needed to shift the tone higher. ---
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loud-was-the-big-bang/558953/60 "2010-11-13T15:55:57Z")
> [@Meow\_Max](#): > > You are correct - light requires the presence of photons, which while they exhibit wave like behavior, are not present in a sound wave, no matter what the frequency. You theoretically could get a sound wave up into the same frequency range as visible light, but it would NOT be light. I wonder if anyone has every done this?.. Just because we’re throwing around numbers and comparing light to sound: [QUOTE=Mycroft Holmes] Why is a goldfish like a laser beam? Because neither one can whistle. [/QUOTE] (Two points for identifying the source of THAT quote.) And because I happen to know (altho’ may have been exceeded in the ensuing 30 years): [QUOTE=Guinness Book of World Records 1981] Highest Measured Frequency: The US National Bureau of Standards announced in May 1979 that D. A. Jennings [et al] had attained a frequency of 2.6020328 \* 10[sup]14[/sup] Hz (260 terahertz) with a helium neon laser emission at Boulder, CO. [/QUOTE] Dr. D. A. Jennings is my FiL, known around here as “Grumpa.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loud-was-the-big-bang/558953.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-loud-was-the-big-bang/558953.md?page=4)