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Earth's Constant Hum Explained

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.'"

21 of 336 comments (clear)

  1. I shall be the first to say by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ohm-mani-padme-hum

  2. Constant Hum by MattSparkes · · Score: 5, Funny

    When I'm in a quiet room I can often hear a quiet hum. It started after I went to an Arctic Monkeys concert...

    1. Re:Constant Hum by Fist!+Of!+Death! · · Score: 5, Funny

      Don't worry, they say it changes when the sun goes down...

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      Nothing witty
    2. Re:constant hum by solevita · · Score: 5, Funny

      Sorry, but the breakthrough research that explained how some guy's hifi hummed was last week; you probably had a ground loop or something. But this week we're talking about the Earth; it's like your hifi, but more people care.

  3. So that's what causes it by niconorsk · · Score: 5, Funny

    I've always just assumed it was the Earth purring.

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  4. please by baldass_newbie · · Score: 5, Funny

    For the love of God, make it stop!

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    The opposite of progress is congress
  5. Damn by sharp-bang · · Score: 5, Funny

    So all this time I guess I should have put the tinfoil in my shoes.

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    #!
  6. Maybe it's just happy? by crosbie · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...as Douglas Adams might have said.

    1. Re:Maybe it's just happy? by Veetox · · Score: 5, Funny

      You may be closer to the truth than you know: $10 (Yeah, I know I'm cheap...) says that researchers will later find out that human activity is impeding the waves and if that impediment continues, it will ruin biological interactions all over the planet... Yeah, you know whats going to happen: monkeys falling out of trees, birds migrating the wrong way, and lesbian women becoming sexually attracted to nerds. Also, hell freezing over.

  7. Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    All this time, I just assumed it was because it couldn't remember the words.

  8. 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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  9. Re:10 millihertz by FormOfActionBanana · · Score: 5, Informative

    Actually, I think it works out to about 36 waves per hour.

    10 milliHertz = 10 * 1/1000 waves per second
    => 0.01 waves per second
    * 60 => 0.6 waves per minute
    * 60 => 36 waves per hour

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  10. Whales by Fist!+Of!+Death! · · Score: 5, Funny

    It is probably driving the whales crazy. They think it's the Voices...

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    Nothing witty
  11. It stopped the other day by Centurix · · Score: 5, Funny

    When I shutdown my PC. Turns out the bearing was on its way out.

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    Task Mangler
  12. Re:Hmmmmmmmm by FormOfActionBanana · · Score: 5, Funny

    The Thetans?

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  13. Re:Alternate explanation by Yvanhoe · · Score: 5, Funny

    They didn't say what causes the waves !
    Everybody knows this is Great Cthulhu snoring in his sleep
    Now please lose 2D6 sanity points

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  14. 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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  15. Balrog by tore · · Score: 5, Funny

    I always thought it was the Balrog humming.

  16. 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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  17. Re:Alternate explanation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Maybe the Earth just doesn't know the words.

  18. Well this proves it... by mtec · · Score: 5, Funny

    We're living inside an inter-galactic boy band.

    Venus is the hot one and will turn out to be gay (natch, I mean Venus?)
    Earth is the um, down-to-earth one - full of life.
    Mars - the cold and distant one - always at war with the other members
    Jupiter - slightly overweight - jolly
    Saturn - Gaudy over-compensator wears lots of jewelry and rings - looks up to Jupiter

    Hot headed Mercury - left in a huff to form his own band - his manager is the real star though.
    Uranus was an asshole and left before fame came.
    Neptune - always blue, committed suicide after what happened to Pluto...
    Pluto? Well, Pluto was thrown out when it was discovered he never could sing.

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