It would be tempting to think that the loudest sounds on Earth are produced by human activities, but that would be without counting the power of nature. The volume of some events is so high that it can be compared to an explosion. Here are some of the loudest noises ever measured.
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The jackhammer is one of the loudest devices we happen to come across, but there are much louder sounds. The site Popular Science classified them, and the palm goes back to nature … The loudest noise ever recorded on Earth is the explosion of Volcan Krakatoa in 1883, in the Indonesian islands of Java. the volume sound was measured at 172 decibels 160 kilometers away. From there, the sound level at three kilometers was calculated between 189 and 202 dB, which is equivalent to 200 megatons of TNT.
The decibel is a logarithmic unit of measurement, which means that the numbers do not increase in a linear fashion. A 3 dB increase represents a doubling of the volume. The second loudest noise is the tunguska event in 1908, which may have been caused by a asteroid that bounces in space. Its volume was calculated at 197 dB at three kilometers, equivalent to 10 to 20 megatons of TNT. the meteor Chelyabinsk is in third place with a volume measured at 90 dB at 700 kilometers, and calculated at 180 dB at three kilometers.
The Saturn V rocket measured at 204 decibels
The loudest sound produced by humans (apart from nuclear bombs) climbs to fourth place, with the Saturn V rocket. This was measured at 204 dB directly from the launch pad (unlike previous events whose volumes are calculated at three kilometers). The shots fire do not arrive until after, with a volume between 140 to 190 dB, well above the threshold of pain of 120 dB and can make you deaf.
Surprisingly, the cry alouates, or howler monkeys can be just as loud, at 140 dB. The bats Noctilio albiventris are almost as noisy, at 137 dB. However, their cries are used for echolocation and are located in the ultrasound, inaudible to humans. Last we find the stadium American Airlines Center in Dallas, equipped with a speakers to amplify the noise of the crowd and it can reach a volume of 115 dB. Even if it is at the limit of human tolerance, it is still eight times weaker than howler monkeys …
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