Dungeon Master Forum

I had always understood sound cannot exist in a vacuum. A sound wave is like a wave in water. The energy of the wave is created by a force, say a vibrating surface, pushing or displacing the medium the object exists in, either air, or water. If the medium runs out, this displaced energy has nothing within which to keep dissipating. A vibrating object in space would therefore not create a soundwave. The sound is not the energy, the energy is that of the air or water molecules pushing against one another having already been displaced by some other occurrence.

Similarly, the human ear can only detect vibrations in the medium it is present in, again either air or water. No medium, no vibrations, therefore nothing can be detected.

But it doesn't just cease to exist the moment it hits a vacuum - something has to happen to it, it must change into a different type of wave or something. I dunno.

The vibrating air can impart a force into an object, but only if the object is within the medium of air molecules. The air molecules hit the object and impart the kinetic energy into it.

But in a vacuum there is no air, therefore there is nothing for this kinetic energy to propagate through. So yes, an airborne soundwave really does cease to exist in the sense that you would have nothing to hear. The momentum remains in the air molecules.

The other thing to note is that the air molecules would have dissipated within the vacuum, thereby not being close enough to each other to allow a wave to pass through them.

You cannot hear sounds in outerspace. Period. End of debate. Let it go.

It's just general chitchat Stan...

I know. I like to gripe. Watching the Monaco Gran Prix race. The cote de azure really is beautiful.

Me too, absolutely love it....! I was there two years ago for the race. Awesome!!

No way. You lucky guy. 15 laps to go.

ebeneezergude wrote:The vibrating air can impart a force into an object, but only if the object is within the medium of air molecules. The air molecules hit the object and impart the kinetic energy into it.

But in a vacuum there is no air, therefore there is nothing for this kinetic energy to propagate through. So yes, an airborne soundwave really does cease to exist in the sense that you would have nothing to hear. The momentum remains in the air molecules.

The other thing to note is that the air molecules would have dissipated within the vacuum, thereby not being close enough to each other to allow a wave to pass through them.

While the density of matter in space is extremely low, it does still exist. The vacuum of space is not a true vacuum as scientists once thought it was, but rather merely an absence of a dense, breathable cloud of gasses like Earth's air. Matter, however, does still exist in space, in the form of clouds of gasses, dust, rocks, and even stray atoms. If that were not the case, we could not have this conversation because we would not exist, and the physical universe could not exist.

Remember, a medium for sound to pass through can be any matter, not just water or Earth's air. The medium does effect the frequency of sound. Based on the link beowuuf provided, I'd say the less dense the material, the lower the frequency of the sound seems to be a plausible hypothesis to start with.

So basically, is there enough matter to provide a medium for human detectable sound in space? No. Is there enough matter for any sound to exist in space? I don't know, but it is possible.

Very true SU. I kept away from that extra detail to keep it simple. You'd need a super sensitive listening capability to detect sound in space which as you say is never really a 'true' vacuum.

Go Spurs Go! I am still kinda drunk from last nite. We went to da club. Woke up watched the F1 race. Now burning in da backyard. Drinking and waiting for mi LOS Spurs!

Spurs lost tonite. Does not matter. Massive good bbq over here. More mad drinking. We have fun.

And in other news, my graphics card has died, yaaay .

Ameena, is that good? Are you going to get a better one? Were you waiting for that to happen?

Awww

Guillermo Del Toro makes such great films. OML. I am in awe.

Lol why would my graphics card dying be a good thing? No, I wasn't waiting for it to happen - it just sort of...happened. So now I can't play any games (well, I could, but everything is in super-low-res with a very low colour count so it would be rather crap ) and have to go downstairs and use my dad's computer to watch my daily YouTube vids. I had recently been sort of thinking about getting a new computer at some point, as some stuff has been running a bit slowly, the disk drive's being a bit temperamental, and I was getting the occasional random BSoD...but now this has happened, it looks like I might actually be doing so sooner than I thought. I understand that it's better (or cheaper, or something) to buy all the bits separately and get them all put together than to buy a pre-built computer (as my current machine is). Fortunately I know someone (well, lots of people, but this particular someone is IRL rather than online ) who can help with that.
At least all I have to worry about is a weird-looking screen and I can still check my forums and stuff, and the computer still works and I can access all my files and whatever. I suppose I'll need to get hold of an external hard drive or something in order to transfer over the files I want to keep hold of once I do actually get a new comp sorted.
And then maybe I can get on with playing Arx Fatalis .

You can grab a graphics card for cheap on e-bay and like or computer salvage stores. Prices go down so fast, you' ll pay little for better than you had.
Did you make sure the card went South, Reinstalling the driver ?

You can transfer files between computers on the same network ( hooked on your internet access box, for instance ) or two computers linked with a Ethernet cable ( RJ45 ) .
Another cheap way to go is using an external disk drive box to put your HDs in. I presume your old HD's are parallel ATA ( aka IDE aka PATA ) while recent stuff is Serial ATA ( SATA ).

I...have no idea what the last part of that post means. For transferring files, I would have to probably use an external hard drive to put the files from this comp onto it and from there to the new comp (once I have one), considering I would then have two computers and only one monitor (and no wire of whatever type is necessary to plug two computers together).
Regarding the graphics card, yes, after some Googling for my issue, I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers. It worked on Thursday...both times (yes, it messed up twice on that day ). Then the graphics buggered again on Saturday but this time they stayed buggered. The computer is about six-and-a-half years old so I suppose it was only a matter of time before something properly broke. I think it decided it was allergic to Prop Hunt or something .

Last part of the post. The point is, you can transfert files without an external hard drive. Computers on the same local network can share files.
Then, tansferts are from a computer to another, without the need for a third party like an external USB hard drive or a USB key.
There are several ways to put computers on a same local network.
How is your computer hooked on the internet ?

Wireless connection to my dad's computer downstairs. I would need to have both computers plugged in and switched on and stuff though, right? I only have one monitor between the two of them so it would be a bit difficult to manage file movement on both computers at once . Plus I don't even have the second computer yet, so it's a bit of a moot point for the time being .

Ameena wrote:Wireless connection to my dad's computer downstairs. I would need to have both computers plugged in and switched on and stuff though, right? I only have one monitor between the two of them so it would be a bit difficult to manage file movement on both computers at once . Plus I don't even have the second computer yet, so it's a bit of a moot point for the time being .

Once you' ll have your new computer, you' ll connect it wireless to the internet too. Here you 'll have your 2 computers on a same local network; You' ll check they see each other, on that net.
Using your screen on the old one, you' ll enable file sharing and allow access. Then you' ll use the screen on the new one to transfert files.

Ah right, just leave them both on and swap the plug over. Would have thought I'd need to shut them down to change something like that, so it detects the monitor and stuff. Oh well, it's probably gonna be at least a couple of weeks before this gets sorted anyway. Bleh.

You are right to fear hot swapping. I' ve done it many times with screens, though.

Go Spurs Go!

I tried to rush through the levels and was not map making. Now I am paying the Piper. Lost, running out of food. I will figure it out though.

Level?

Sorry Beowuuf. Should have said floors. Too many years of playing generic rpgs.

I finally figured out how to gather and store food and water for expeditions into lower floors. But I do not like when your party is walking down a corridor, and the layout switches. Very not obvious but still there. I really love DM.

Big Stan, you might want to post your Dungeon Master exploits in the Dungeon Master forum: http://dungeon-master.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=27
We like to keep this Inn of Lost Souls thread for non-gaming stuff really, you know, passing the time of day, general chat, that sort of thing. Thanks.