DrWho Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 We were playing around with "the wave equation" in acoustics class and I came across a cool bit of trivia...the minimum amplitude required for our ears to percieve a sound is on the order of 1/10th of an Angstrom. Just to give you an idea of how small that is, a single molecule of water is 3 Angstroms long... So ya, I just thought that was freaken insane... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WMcD Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 I think that is minimum displacement of the ear cillia (hair in the inner ear) for perception of sound. To paraphrase Forbidden Planet, The Good Lord sure did make some wonderful places, and they're inside us. Smile, Gil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacksonbart Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 Cool[:^)] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Matthews Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 Who, help me out. Here's the math I would have used: 20kHz = 20,000 waves per second. Sound travels 600 mph or 913 ft./sec. (roughly). I guess you'd have to fit 20,000 waves into 913 ft. That would be one wave per .04565 feet. That's a wavelength of .5478 inches for a 20kHz sound. Where is the math wrong? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arfandbark Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 If it wasn't for cillia hair, I'd have none... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colterphoto1 Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 Is that a RED cillia hair (also known as the finest unit of measure known to man, the RCH) Any carpenters out there will know of which I speak.... Michael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CECAA850 Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 A cillia by any other name......................... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrestonTom Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 I think that is minimum displacement of the ear cillia (hair in the inner ear) for perception of sound. To paraphrase Forbidden Planet, The Good Lord sure did make some wonderful places, and they're inside us. Smile, Gil Gil is correct, this is the displacement (read amplitude) required. Actually it is this order of magnitude and must be under some rather specific conditions. What is interesting is that if the sensitivity were any better you would now run into displacements produced by Brownian motion. Our ears really are a remarkble system. Good Luck, -Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted February 3, 2006 Author Share Posted February 3, 2006 Oops, I shouldn't have said "wavelength" - I meant the distance the air molecules must move tangential to the direction of the sound (aka, the amplitude). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deercreek36 Posted February 4, 2006 Share Posted February 4, 2006 1, 000,000 RCH's = 1 BCH....as any machinist will know..... deercreek36 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted February 4, 2006 Share Posted February 4, 2006 Michael, you cilia savage! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Robin Posted February 5, 2006 Share Posted February 5, 2006 Love them Redheads; been married to one for 26 years; mighty fine indeed. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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