Question about sound waves

Discussion in 'Science and Nature' started by bahookahjoe18, Aug 14, 2011.

  1. How long does it take sound to travel from one's mouth to one's ears?
     
  2. an imperceptibly small amount.
     
  3. 6 inches at 700 mph? Assuming the sound would travel through the air which it probably does not - probably goes through your skull faster. Anyway:

    700miles/hr x 5280feet/mi x hr/60min x min/60sec x sec/1000milliseconds x 12inches/foot

    = 12 inches/millisecond

    So, invert, and divide by 2 since the distance from your mouth to your ear is closer to 6 inches SO ... ... about 0.5 milliseconds. A completely "imperceptibly small amount".
     

  4. Eh. I talk aloud to myself because the reverb helps me concentrate/memorize. I guess that's only when you account for brain interaction too. Ie: brain to mouth to ear to brain.
     
  5. Not very long
     
  6. Thanks for the replies Blades. Thanks for the math, Pintada.

    When you speak, you are fundamentally sending a message into the future.
     
  7. that just blew my mind:eek:
     
  8. lol, the same with writing or talking to another person or doing anything outside of just sitting still. hell even thinking about moving would count.
     

  9. True!

    I simply enjoy speaking to the future me.
     
  10. Anything to back that up?

    And before you start, your brain has already made the idea to speak and what to speak before you say it. Then you still have the time it takes for you to speak it to reach your ears. Even though you already knew what you were going to already say.
     

  11. The most important thing Ken Kesey taught me is that I am always experiencing the past. No matter if it IS only 0.5 milliseconds between the moment I speak a word and the moment my ears receive it, I still interpret the sound after it has been spoken.

    However, that example leaves plenty of room for misinterpretation, so allow me to clarify. My eyes are currently receiving, processing, and transmitting multitudes of photons. It appears to me that my cat is currently rubbing her head on my shoulder, but she actually nudged me a fraction of a nanosecond ago.

    The same principle applies to smell, taste, touch, etc.

    Use this information to your benefit. Strive to live in the moment.
     
  12. What if these delays are imperceptible? Doesn't it boil down to perception?
     

  13. Great point! But is perception the defining aspect of this quality of existence?
     
  14. Subjectively existence? yes, probably. I haven't encountered many better arguments.
     

  15. Are they imperceptible if we know they are there?
     
  16. #16 ksharp, Aug 17, 2011
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 15, 2016
    Did you do all that in your head? :p
     

  17. No, i did it on the internet. :D:D:D
     

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