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Earth's Constant Hum Explained

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the global-tinnitus dept.

MattSparkes writes "It has been known for some time that there is a constant hum that emanates from the Earth, which can be heard near 10 millihertz on a seismometer. The problem was that nobody knew what caused it. It has now been shown that it is caused by waves on the bottom of the sea, and more specifically 'by the combination of two waves of the same frequency travelling in opposite directions.'"

3 of 336 comments (clear)

  1. Did ancient greeks know about this? by torrija · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I think this is a concept related to Pythagoras' Musica Universalis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musica_universalis. An inaudible sound on all celestial bodies.

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  2. But wait! by camperdave · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...the waves are making the sound.

    Wait a minute. How do we know that it's the waves that are causing the hum, and not the other way around? Perhaps the planet is still ringing from meteor impacts, and the hum is just the resonant frequency. The deep ocean waves may be just a side effect.

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  3. I have an idea by LaughingCoder · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Maybe we could build a clock that used this hum as some sort of synchronization. Then every clock on the planet could be synchronized, since this signal is presumably detectable everywhere.

    OK, I didn't say it was a *good* idea :-)

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