It’s official. The European Space Agency has won the loudness war by creating a device capable of producing a sound so loud that it can kill a human. The Large European Acoustic Facility or as I like to call it, ‘The Bass Cannon’ emulates the noise intensity of a rocket lift off by blowing nitrogen through horns. The sound it produces is so intense, that it can quite literally kill you… Think of it like a Bond-villain type death ray, except as opposed to laser beams, it uses a crushing wall of audible energy. But, the LEAF’s actual use is less melting peoples’ faces off ala ‘Raiders of The Lost Ark’ and more rocket-scienc-ey.
Pictured: Science.
In fact, the 154 decibel monster is used to test incredibly sensitive satellites and equipment before strapping them a live rocket – because you know… space things tend to be mind-blowingly expensive. So, by putting them next to something that produces the noise of a rocket, but isn’t a rocket, scientists and engineers can optimize their pre-launch designs.
This is a pretty cool example of the advanced (and terrifying) applications of sound engineering, and while we haven’t seen any nitrogen driven super systems yet, but I’m secretly hoping that Excision is working on adapting this into his Executioner set up.
Source: Engadget