# speed of sound **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 7, 2001, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-of-sound/61177 "2001-04-07T19:57:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Golden\_Child](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7ea924/32.png) [@Golden\_Child](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Golden_Child)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2001, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-of-sound/61177/1 "2001-04-07T19:57:35Z")
If you went the speed of sound and no faster would you hear every sound that would be around you or would you hear nothing at all? ---
**Author:** ![Billy\_Rubin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billy_rubin/32/3622_2.png) [@Billy\_Rubin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billy_Rubin)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2001, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-of-sound/61177/2 "2001-04-07T20:10:52Z")
At the speed of sound you would be able to hear only the rushing of air going past at 1100 feet per second. It would be pretty painful. If you were in an airplane going the speed of sound, the air travelling with you would not be travelling at the speed of sound, and everything would therefore sound normally. If you were travelling at the speed of sound in a vacuum so air couldn’t rush past to cause tiny sonic booms all around your body, you’d asphyxiate fairly quickly, and hear nothing, as sound doesn’t travel in a vacuum. b. ---
**Author:** ![Stephen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@Stephen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephen)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2001, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-of-sound/61177/3 "2001-04-07T20:10:56Z")
Well, if you are exposed to the air rushing by, you would only hear the sound of rushing air as your eardrums exploded and your flesh ripped from your head. If you’re in the cockpit of an aircraft, you would have a volume of air moving right along with you, so you would hear normally. If you removed the air, you would be in a vacuum and sound doens’t travel in a vacuum. ---
**Author:** ![Stephen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@Stephen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephen)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2001, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-of-sound/61177/4 "2001-04-07T20:12:08Z")
Jinx. ---
**Author:** ![Billy\_Rubin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billy_rubin/32/3622_2.png) [@Billy\_Rubin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billy_Rubin)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2001, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-of-sound/61177/5 "2001-04-07T20:14:06Z")
hehe! You’re just upset I got there first!! ---
**Author:** ![Stephen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@Stephen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephen)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2001, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-of-sound/61177/6 "2001-04-07T20:17:14Z")
Not nearly as upset as I am with my spelling of ‘doesn’t’… ---
**Author:** ![Billy\_Rubin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billy_rubin/32/3622_2.png) [@Billy\_Rubin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billy_Rubin)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2001, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-of-sound/61177/7 "2001-04-07T20:21:08Z")
Hey, I can spell but I can’t type either. Friends pay attention to what you mean, not what you say, or for that matter, type. This post is merely proof that great minds, albeit great minds with clumsy fingers, think alike. b.