What is the Loudest Sound on Earth?

What is the Loudest Sound on Earth? The answer to this simple question may be more complicated than you would expect.

Krakatoaimage courtesy of thexodirectory.com

The giant volcano Krakatoa erupting is often cited as the loudest sound on earth. According to Listverse, the "cataclysmic explosion" of Krakatoa in 1883 was a history-making noise maker -- the eruption was reported at 180 dB and could be heard in both Perth, 1,930 miles away, and at the island of Rodrigues, 3,000 miles away! That particular Krakatoa eruption was far louder than even the space shuttle's rockets' red glare, and is frequently said to be the loudest noise in recorded human history.

 

So was the mind-boggling Krakatoa eruption really the loudest sound on Earth?
Maybe not.

 

Tunguska Meteor
image courtesy of the NY Times

 The Tunguska Meteor crash of 1908 may give Krakatoa a run for its money in the loudest noise on Earth competition, reports Zidbits. This meteor slammed into our planet at such a high speed that it actually exploded on contact with our atmposhere, creating a fireball 3-5 miles up in the sky which could be seen over 110 miles away. The accompanying shockwave flattened approximately 80,000 trees in Siberia -- along with the few buildings and anything else in the remote area. Observations of the Tunguska Meteor crater after the fact tell us the sound would have registered at about 300 dB (about 1000x louder than the bomb dropped on Nagasaki!), making the Tunguska meteor crash the loudest sound heard on Earth in human history. But exact details on the Tunguska crash vary; what exactly happened in Siberia in 1908 may actually have been caused by something more unusual than a meteor or comet, a source of ongoing debate in scientific communities. Now often called the "Tunguska Event," the mystery that surrounds this big bang may be just enough to give the much more closely-observed Krakatoa eruption a chance to hold its title as the loudest sound on Earth.

Until next time, be safe and love your ears - and keep your distance from volcanoes and meteors!
--Sarah Bergman, Web Developer

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Comments

[Kyle Rybski]

"300 dB (about 1000x louder than the bomb dropped on Nagasaki!)"

0.3 dB? That bomb was quieter than a drop of water on cotton.

[Tom Bergman]

Thanks for commenting, Kyle. The important thing to remember about the dB scale is that it's a logarithmic scale, so 20dB isn't just 2 times louder than 10dB as we might expect -- 20dB is actually ten times louder than 10dB!