No Stupid Questions

2174 readers

1 users here now

There is no such thing as a Stupid Question!

Don't be embarrassed of your curiosity; everyone has questions that they may feel uncomfortable asking certain people, so this place gives you a nice area not to be judged about asking it. Everyone here is willing to help.

ex. How do I change oil
ex. How to tie shoes
ex. Can you cry underwater?

Reminder that the rules for lemmy.ca still apply!

Thanks for reading all of this, even if you didn't read all of this, and your eye started somewhere else, have a watermelon slice 🍉.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

Can sound exist in a vacuum cleaner? (self.nostupidquestions)

submitted 1 year ago by AndreyAsimow to c/[email protected]

4 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Hey everyone, I've got a question that's been bugging me. So, we all know that sound needs a medium to travel through, like air or water. But what happens with sound in a vacuum cleaner? I mean, it's a vacuum, right? Does it just get all quiet in there? Or is there something I'm missing? Thanks for satisfying my curiosity on this one – I'm really stumped!

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

It's not a complete vacuum (hard vacuum) inside the vacuum cleaner, just a lower pressure.

The loudest sound possible in a medium is when the pressure waves alternative between complete vacuum and 2x the pressure of the medium. In standard atmospheric pressure it's about 194dB. Inside a vacuum cleaner it would be slightly less, but you'll never achieve sound that loud, so it doesn't really matter.

TL:DR: No difference in sound levels inside a vacuum cleaner.

Sources: https://physics.stackexchange.com/a/275460