Flavio Coelho/Moment RF/Getty Images
A huge amount of sound is generated in the world, which takes energy. As the sound dissipates, what happens to this energy?
Ron Dippold
San Diego, California, US
Sound exists in the form of vibrations, or waves, in the air, which can be easily converted to heat. Heat is molecules vibrating; cold is molecules not vibrating as much. So, simply put, all the world’s sound turns into a little bit of heat.
Thankfully, this resultant heat is negligible in terms of global warming: just as you can’t usefully heat tea by stirring it, sound can’t appreciably heat things up.
Sound…
