Stanford Scientists Created A Deafening Sound That Can Boil Water

Scientists at Stanford University's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory made an underwater sound so deafening that it immediately makes water evaporate and seems to establish the limit on how loud sound can be underwater.

A strong X-ray laser of SLAC was used by the researchers to shoot minor streams of water with short pulses of high-frequency energy. At the moment when the x-rays meet the microscopic water stream, they immediately made the water particles evaporate around them like a spit on a frying pan. A shock wave was also created through the stream that can literally be observed going to the left side and the right side of the blast spot like below:

What’s fascinating about this shock wave is that it’s powerful enough to be visible to the humans' eyes. It could be easily perceived to be disrupting the stream of water. However, it is insufficient for the particles to break down completely as they do when it came into contact with the strong X-rays. The scientists think that the shock wave only generated a pressure that was beneath this breaking point. That implies it would be the upper limit a sound's loudness under the water.

The research was posted in the journal Physical Review Fluids' recent issue.

To put it simply, yes metal fans, you can rock so hard that you can boil water instantly. The sound pressure which was measured in this test is 270 decibels. That’s more deafening than a rocket dispatch and is equivalent to the force created by coordinating all the electricity lines in a whole city onto one spot.

If you ever had a real chance to hear such a sound with your own ears, nothing can help you because its power would not only destroy your eardrums but also your heart and lungs.

So make sure you won’t try this at home.