Can sound exist without oxygen?

[Barn]

How does that contradict what he said?

There is no particles in space to form a sound wave so they don't really exist. I thought he was implying they were electromagnetic waves which they are not.

[New England]

who says it's got to be oxygen?

air is made mostly of nitrogen


i'd guess that you'd hear different sounds if it had different gaseous mediums through which to travel


if you tap two rocks together under water you can hear them clear across the pond. it sounds like you're right there.

if you're above water the sound wont carry that far.



kicking the little bit of street smarts and common sense i can bring to this one

i know we got a couple engineers out there. some men of science as well
a bio major or two
etc
they can tell you more than i can


but yes
it can. there's no oxygen in water that's not bound to hydrogen (H2O)
and you can hear better under water than you can above it



you can hear a blue whale for hundreds of miles

[New England]

Yes. It can exist in any medium. As long as you're not in a vacuum, there's sound.

you got it, big dog

[WarriorSoul]

Sound needs a medium to transmit, it doesn't have to be "oxygen". Sound propagates in different types of medium, and in fact do it better than the atmosphere, i.e. water, metals, etc..

[New England]

Sound can exist on the moon but would be transferred through the rock. As mentioned above yes it needs a medium through which to be transferred so it won't travel through vaccuum but will travel through gases, liquids and solids.

[Larry the boss]

No, sound is transferred by vibrating particles and space is nearly a vaccum therefore there are no particles to vibrate therefore no sound.

but if a star explodes there would be alot of vibration right

[jaded]

I think oxygen is not that important. According to Wikipedia...farts contain very little oxygen...

Nitrogen: 20–90%
Hydrogen: 0–50%
Carbon dioxide: 10–30%
Oxygen: 0–10%
Methane: 0–10%

and we all know that farts have sound...so I say probably no.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatulence

[Larry the boss]

I think oxygen is not that important. According to Wikipedia...farts contain very little oxygen...

Nitrogen: 20–90%
Hydrogen: 0–50%
Carbon dioxide: 10–30%
Oxygen: 0–10%
Methane: 0–10%

and we all know that farts have sound...so I say probably no.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatulence

but farts come out into a oxygen filled world..would a fart make a sound in outterspace?

[Frogs!]

there is sound only if there's someone there to hear it.

[Burning Phoenix]

I think he means in a vacuum.

And the answer is no.

this...