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Listening To the Big Bang – In High Fidelity

First time accepted submitter vinces99 writes "A decade ago, spurred by a question for a fifth-grade science project, University of Washington physicist John Cramer devised an audio recreation of the Big Bang that started our universe nearly 14 billion years ago. Now, armed with more sophisticated data from a satellite mission observing the cosmic microwave background – a faint glow in the universe that acts as sort of a fossilized fingerprint of the Big Bang – Cramer has produced new recordings that fill in higher frequencies to create a fuller and richer sound."

53 of 85 comments (clear)

  1. thanks, guys... by Tastecicles · · Score: 2

    ...you didn't warn me, now my ears are bleeding.

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    Operation Guillotine is in effect.
    1. Re:thanks, guys... by rts008 · · Score: 1

      And what part of "Big Bang in High Fidelity" did you not understand?

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  2. Ummmm by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 4, Funny

    I hate that Sheldon guy, who the hell wants to hear his voice better?

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    (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    1. Re:Ummmm by Dabido · · Score: 1

      Wil Wheaton ... is that you???

      --
      Sure enough, the cow costume was hanging up next to the superhero outfit and sailors uniform. (S,Spud)
  3. Volume-less audio player by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Just what I needed this morning, some random loud sound WITH NO OBVIOUS VOLUME CONTROL ON THE DAMN PAGE. Seriously, how hard can it be to include a volume control?

    1. Re:Volume-less audio player by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Seriously? Do you not have a volume knob on your speakers,or on your OS?

      You know, Even windows 95 had a volume control. I can't think of a single machine capable of rendering the web audio that does not have volume control (software or hardware). Use it! Not everything has to be spoon fed on the web page for you.

    2. Re:Volume-less audio player by jones_supa · · Score: 1

      Just what I needed this morning, some random loud sound WITH NO OBVIOUS VOLUME CONTROL ON THE DAMN PAGE. Seriously, how hard can it be to include a volume control?

      Ahh, the sound of the universe being born, in the morning...

  4. If you were present... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    at the time of the big bang, would there have been anything to hear? Technically, was there any sound?

    1. Re:If you were present... by anomaly256 · · Score: 1

      "If a big bang happens in a forest, and no one is around..."

  5. All together now... by maroberts · · Score: 3, Funny

    Our whole universe was in a hot dense state, Then nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started Wait....

    --

    Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
    Karma: Chameleon

    1. Re:All together now... by Tastecicles · · Score: 1

      um... he did, he bats for the other team?

      --
      Operation Guillotine is in effect.
    2. Re:All together now... by Jerslan · · Score: 1

      He was too obsessed with forgetting his flash drive with the research he wanted to show to that one physicist.

  6. paid for a pip squeek ? by axonis · · Score: 1

    Tasty over tones hear

    --
    bæ8Ã0sÃOE?5r©oÂÃ?âz:ÃÃAÃ?ÃOEÂ6fXÃ?]Â
    1. Re:paid for a pip squeek ? by flyneye · · Score: 2

      They will definitely be backing tracks to some future recordings of mine.
      Nice of them to open the permissions.

      --
      *Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
  7. But... by Fuzzums · · Score: 1

    what if you play it backwards??

    --
    Privacy is terrorism.
    1. Re:But... by HybridST · · Score: 1

      Your speakers implode!

      --
      Ever notice that Cobra Commander sounds an awful lot like Star scream?
    2. Re:But... by coinreturn · · Score: 1

      what if you play it backwards??

      That's the sound of The Big Crunch.

    3. Re:But... by bedouin · · Score: 1

      The world ends. Reversing the waveform as I type this to ensure that happens soon.

    4. Re:But... by Livius · · Score: 1

      You get the BBC's "Bang Goes the Theory".

      Also a good show.

  8. Re:Big Banng by chill · · Score: 2

    Honestly? The Dolby THX sound was the first thing I thought of.

    --
    Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
  9. Recordings? by opusman · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Are you sure that's the right term? Somehow I doubt it's actually a recording :)

    1. Re:Recordings? by AlecC · · Score: 2

      Why not? The energy was extracted from the environment and converted into a sound file playable on your computer. It may have been post-processed a bit, but it is a record of fluctuations created by the Bug Bang.

      --
      Consciousness is an illusion caused by an excess of self consciousness.
    2. Re:Recordings? by jovius · · Score: 1

      Could these be called playbacks? Recording medium is the cosmic background microwave signature in the fabric of the universe, and these are playbacks of it at various speeds.

    3. Re:Recordings? by RivenAleem · · Score: 1

      I had heard the Big Bang created all gas giants and nebulae, but even I don't believe they can record it's flatulence.

  10. Re:Big Banng by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    expected harmony of the spheres, got acoustic goatse

    As the universe cooled and expanded, it stretched the wavelengths to create “more of a bass instrument,” Cramer said. The sound gets lower as the wavelengths are stretched farther, and at first it gets louder but then gradually fades.

    Bang was too big, it passed out

  11. Disney now owns the Universe b/c of you. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Honestly? The Dolby THX sound was the first thing I thought of.

    Oh Great! Well, Disney bought LucasArts which owned THX, so now Disney is going to claim Copyright ownership of the Universe!

    And you - YOU - had to post your comment giving them prior art or something!

    Great! Just great!

  12. Re:No thanks by xclr8r · · Score: 1

    I want it in Dolby Atmos and add some rumble seats. http://www.dolby.com/us/en/professional/technology/cinema/dolby-atmos.html

    --
    Beware of those who profit off the docile and persecute the unbelievers.
  13. Sound? by cwarrior · · Score: 1

    Pardon my apparent ignorance, but how would there have been any sound if there was nothing for sound waves to travel through? (i.e., "In space, no one can hear you scream." -- Alien)

    1. Re:Sound? by Pembers · · Score: 1

      Back then, the universe contained the same amount of matter as it does now, but compressed into a much smaller volume. Therefore it was much denser - much too dense to be considered a vacuum - meaning that sound could travel through it.

    2. Re:Sound? by bad_bob66 · · Score: 1

      I'm not buying that one. The materials would be super-dense, super-hot, moving at almost the speed of light, and moving in different directions. I don't think sound would have much meaning here which could be correlated with what we sense as sound.

    3. Re:Sound? by dotancohen · · Score: 1

      Relevant for you:
      http://tomsastroblog.com/archives/13999
      In space, no one can hear you scream. Maybe.

      --
      It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
    4. Re:Sound? by dotancohen · · Score: 1

      I'm not buying that one. The materials would be super-dense, super-hot, moving at almost the speed of light, and moving in different directions. I don't think sound would have much meaning here which could be correlated with what we sense as sound.

      We correlate the propagation of disturbances in the fluid medium which immerses us as "sound". Do you not think that disturbances propagated in the fluid medium that existed moments after the big bang?

      --
      It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
    5. Re:Sound? by bad_bob66 · · Score: 1

      No I don't think that, because there was no fluid medium in the moments after the big bang. There was no atomic matter at all until 400,000 years afterwards. However much you might try to stretch the definition of sound, it's not going to cover subatomic particles!

    6. Re:Sound? by dotancohen · · Score: 1

      Yes, you are correct. Reviewing the chronology of the big bang on Wikipedia, I see that I had all kinds of mistakes in the order for which events happened. Thank you for correcting me!

      --
      It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
  14. Re:Big Banng by sa1lnr · · Score: 1

    Sweep generator is what I thought of.

  15. Ouch, my internets! by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

    I guess they're a little spoiled for bandwidth over at faculty.washington.edu, and don't realise that a 15mb, 4000x2020 JPEG scaled down to 1000 pixels is not the best use of teh tubes.

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  16. idiotic artisti bullshit by slashmydots · · Score: 1

    There is no sound in space. To pretend that there is, the density, temperature, and atmospheric pressure would make it vary greatly. So really this is just made up bullshit.

    1. Re:idiotic artisti bullshit by PvtVoid · · Score: 1

      There is no sound in space. To pretend that there is, the density, temperature, and atmospheric pressure would make it vary greatly. So really this is just made up bullshit.

      Um, no. There really was sound in the early universe, which was much denser than the universe today. Perhaps you should educate yourself a little before you start calling stuff "made up bullshit".

    2. Re:idiotic artisti bullshit by slashmydots · · Score: 1

      Atom vibration requires atmospheric pressure. Any power levels registering above 190 decibels is considered a "shockwave" and not sound because it behaves differently. So no, there was no sound. Maybe you should educate yourself a little before you start posting useless arrogant crap.

    3. Re:idiotic artisti bullshit by femtobyte · · Score: 2

      Why are you arguing using numbers for shockwave formation in atmospheric-pressure air? Do you not realize that sound can propagate in a variety of media, with different speeds (thus different thresholds for shockwave generation), and that the early universe wasn't filled with atmospheric-pressure air? Come back when you've re-calculated shockwave conditions in the state of matter prior to recombination; and if you can't do that, then don't flaunt your ignorance by spouting wholly irrelevant numbers.

    4. Re:idiotic artisti bullshit by Livius · · Score: 1

      Space is not an absolutely perfect vacuum, and the medium has pressure waves, also known as sound. Just not sound that human hearing would be sensitive to.

  17. I dont see whats so great... by sighnaps · · Score: 1

    I dont see whats so great... All Glory To The Hypnotoad!

  18. Re:Now the question by Megane · · Score: 1

    How many bigs could a Big Bang bang, if a Big Bang could bang bigs?

    --
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  19. Name of god by Okian+Warrior · · Score: 1

    It's the true name of god, spoken at the beginning of creation to bring about the universe and all we know,

    Whatever you do, don't play it in reverse!

    1. Re:Name of god by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

      It's the true name of god [wikipedia.org], spoken at the beginning of creation to bring about the universe and all we know,

      It won't end well for us.

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  20. Dear Gentlemen, this is God by LineGrunt · · Score: 1

    I notice that you have posted illicit audio copies of my copy-written creation of the universe.

    Please remove them immediately, as specified by the provisions of the DMCA...

    If you fail to do so, legal penalties, up to and including extreme smiting may be incurred.

    Sincerely yours,

    God (Esq)

  21. It's the Om - The vibration of the universe by p00kiethebear · · Score: 1

    The Om is the sound of the universe, it's roots are in ancient Hinduism. That was the first thing that popped into my brain. Time for quiet meditation then yoga and vegie-burgers anyone?

    --
    The Blade Itself
  22. Re:Now the question by hazah · · Score: 1

    Quark-Gluon Plasma was the medium.

  23. Noise at the beginning by Freedel · · Score: 1

    I understand that the sound wave lowers pitch due two propagation over time (basically), I get that. But what were the fluctuation noises in the first 1-2 seconds of the sound bit?

  24. If that is... by tzot · · Score: 1

    ..."let there be light" in God-speak, no wonder that our guys didn't get the tree warning.

    --
    I speak England very best
  25. Hi fidelity is a dirty word by peawormsworth · · Score: 1

    I hate when people say "hi-fidelity". Fortunately, not many people use it now. I only hear people use this to imply: "I paid more for my speakers then you did". The word doesnt have any meaning and in fact makes me think of products from the 50's to 70's. It like finding a tuner that says "In Stereo" on it... as if this is some soft of selling point. It would be more interesting if I was told it was recording in quadrophonic sound or captured on reel to reel, because then I would at least know what hi-fidelity was referring to.

    Also, none of these sounds have any meaning. Sound doesnt travel without a medium and the big bang did not occur in a medium. So you could play a sound from the radiation of a star and tell me "the stars are singing in the heavens"... but it doesnt have any real meaning. I guess you could take timelaps video of ice melting and then call it "HD video of the SUN"... but its not really is it.

    1. Re:Hi fidelity is a dirty word by DirtyLiar · · Score: 1

      There is definate "low-fidelity", so high-fidelity is a given. It relates to either the fidelity (accuracy) of a recording, or the ability of equipmen to re-produce high-fidelity (high accuracy) sounds from those high-fidelity recordings.

      Also, your statement implies that you cannot hear a difference between mono, sterio, and/or other multi-track audio playback (Sterio+Subwoofer, Sterio+Center, Quadraphonic, or any combination thereof).

      Sterio may be standard now, but it does not make the word meaningless.

      --

      THINK! It's patriotic

  26. Sweet! by DirtyLiar · · Score: 1

    That's cool.

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    THINK! It's patriotic