# Loud bass effect on computer

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loud-bass-effect-on-computer/849522>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 15, 2020, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loud-bass-effect-on-computer/849522 "2020-03-15T06:13:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2020, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loud-bass-effect-on-computer/849522/1 "2020-03-15T06:13:34Z")

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So I was watching [this video of people using bass music resonance to wreak havoc on car doors and windows](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGBzmlDYEyo), and I wondered what would happen to a laptop or desktop computer that was sitting next to this noise blast. Same damage?

Why aren’t the electronics of the bass speaker itself similarly damaged by these sound waves? And why aren’t human internal organs also pulverized?

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**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2020, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loud-bass-effect-on-computer/849522/2 "2020-03-15T17:55:38Z")

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It’s a sealed system.  
They are pressuring the interior of the car, so the windows flex. It’s not going to pulverize anything.  
But, if you want death by sound, hear you go:

> **[Can a loud enough sound kill you?](https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/175996-can-a-loud-enough-sound-kill-you)**
>
> Can sound kill you? The short answer is 'yes' -- and, rather shockingly, the European Space Agency says that it now has such a sonic weapon in its arsenal. For the long answer, read on.

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**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2020, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loud-bass-effect-on-computer/849522/3 "2020-03-16T21:21:08Z")

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Electronics are damaged by sound waves like this --you just have to get the frequency and amplitude right, and you get vibration failure. Speaker wiring is designed to handle what every kind of current it is designed for. If you put it to much, it could vibrate itself to death, but normally it will just burn out before that happens. If you put that low-frequency signal through a tweeter, it could well burn out.

Speaker cones do fail in exactly the way that car door is failing. If you put a large high-frequency signal through a woofer, it will tear itself to pieces.

That car door is wobbling because they’ve found a matching frequency. It won’t behave like that at other frequencies lots of things will wobble like that if you find the right frequency and crank the volume up.