© 2024 MICHIGAN PUBLIC
91.7 Ann Arbor/Detroit 104.1 Grand Rapids 91.3 Port Huron 89.7 Lansing 91.1 Flint
Donate
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Watch this to see what sound looks like

Michigan Public | By Mark Brush
Published April 9, 2014 at 11:25 AM EDT
A picture that shows the shock waves around a T-38 Talon aircraft on December 13, 1993.
Dr. Leonard Weinstein
/
NASA
A picture that shows the shock waves around a T-38 Talon aircraft on December 13, 1993.
A picture that shows the shock waves around a T-38 Talon aircraft on December 13, 1993.
Credit Dr. Leonard Weinstein / NASA
/
NASA
A picture that shows the shock waves around a T-38 Talon aircraft on Dec. 13, 1993.

Two parabolic mirrors, a barrier, a camera, and voilà! – you have a way to photograph sound waves – or more specifically, a way to photograph changes in air density.

Check out this video from NPR to see how it works:

http://youtu.be/px3oVGXr4mo

H/T Lucy Perkins
Tags
offbeat
Mark Brush
Mark Brush was the station's Digital Media Director. He succumbed to a year-long battle with glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer, in March 2018. He was 49 years old.
See stories by Mark Brush
Related Content