Recorded sounds from Mars are shocking; they sound very different from sounds on Earth. Mars has a very thin atmosphere layer, which doesn’t transport sound nearly as well as Earth’s atmosphere does. Were humans to one day converse on Mars, it would be very difficult to have a conversation there.
The Perseverance rover on Mars made some recordings when the vehicle zapped a few small rocks with its laser gun. By analyzing the recordings, researchers discovered that there’s more than one speed of sound on Mars: there are high-pitched sounds and low-pitched tones. The lower-pitched sounds travel ten meters slower per second than the higher-pitched ones.
Researchers state that this is because of the “relaxation effect,” which is the process of adding energy to the surrounding molecules when a sound wave passes through air or through a fluid. On Earth, relaxation relies on the sound frequency and the kinds of molecules that are present in the air. However, on Mars, the relaxation is different for each kind of pitch.
A high-pitched sound’s relaxation is faster because the atmosphere on Mars consists mostly of carbon dioxide—unlike on Earth, where our atmosphere is made up mostly of nitrogen. In addition, Mars’s air pressure is a lot lower than the air pressure on Earth. Because of this difference, all sounds on Earth travel at the same speed, whereas the sounds on Mars travel at different speeds.
Scientists will be able to understand more about the ways sound changes on Mars over different seasons as the Perseverance rover keeps sending more recordings back to Earth.
The Perseverance rover on Mars made some recordings when the vehicle zapped a few small rocks with its laser gun. By analyzing the recordings, researchers discovered that there’s more than one speed of sound on Mars: there are high-pitched sounds and low-pitched tones. The lower-pitched sounds travel ten meters slower per second than the higher-pitched ones.
Researchers state that this is because of the “relaxation effect,” which is the process of adding energy to the surrounding molecules when a sound wave passes through air or through a fluid. On Earth, relaxation relies on the sound frequency and the kinds of molecules that are present in the air. However, on Mars, the relaxation is different for each kind of pitch.
A high-pitched sound’s relaxation is faster because the atmosphere on Mars consists mostly of carbon dioxide—unlike on Earth, where our atmosphere is made up mostly of nitrogen. In addition, Mars’s air pressure is a lot lower than the air pressure on Earth. Because of this difference, all sounds on Earth travel at the same speed, whereas the sounds on Mars travel at different speeds.
Scientists will be able to understand more about the ways sound changes on Mars over different seasons as the Perseverance rover keeps sending more recordings back to Earth.
