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marcel
Aug 16, 2002, 9:54 PM
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Did you ever notice when yelling belay signals that sound seems to travel up better than down? Anybody know why?
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duck
Aug 16, 2002, 10:27 PM
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if you're within shouting distance (less than 100 meters or so) then there is no real difference. However, as you go signifigantly higher, (like thousands of feet) sound has more and more difficulty travelling through the thinning atmosphere. The speed of sound (Mach-1) is always measured at Sea Level (usually with a specific atmospheric pressure, temp, and humidity), and is usually around 800Mph. Sound travells slower the higher you go, up until space, where there is no sound (there's no medium for it to travel through). Sound travells MUCH better in liquids and solids. For a real fun time, try banging 2 baseball-sized rocks together in a swimming pool...anyone underwater at the time is liable to feed the rocks to you...rectally, but it's entertaining to watch them come jumping out of the pool nontheless. Dr.Duck, because Physics is Phun
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marcel
Aug 16, 2002, 10:41 PM
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Thanks Dr. Duck. Is it just my imagination but it almost always seems easyier to hear belay signals when your higher than the person you are belaying. It sure seems to me that sound travels up the rock, or ice better than it travels down. And as a long time scuba diver I know what you mean about sound in the water.
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whitetyger81
Aug 16, 2002, 10:48 PM
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Generally, when you are yelling at the belayer you are facing upwards thus yelling away from the belayer. While the belayer yells upward toward the climber.
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waxman
Aug 16, 2002, 11:05 PM
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I don't have a great scientific answer.......but isn't physics grand!
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