A lot happens to a sound wave after it’s produced. It propagates away from its source, bounces frenetically off other surfaces, interacts with other waves and finally stimulates your eardrum, allowing you to hear it. This is happening all the time. But there are, on occasion, circumstances that allow sound to behave in strange and remarkable ways. Here are five crazy acoustic phenomena that you won’t wanna miss.
5. Laser Rocks
While strolling through Central Park during the winter, I decided to skip a stone on the frozen lake. When I hurled a small stone at the ice, I was taken aback. Instead of hearing the expected dull thud that a rocks tend to make when they hit solid objects, I heard something that sounded almost exactly like the “ray gun” sound effect you’d find in a cruddy sci-fi movie. I still have no idea what creates this phenomenon, but I’d guess it has something to do with sound waves propagating through the thin wall of ice on the surface of the water. Check out this video, and don’t forget to throw some rocks next time you’re near a frozen lake.
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