Shownotes Transcript
Thank you.
If you want to protect your favorite public media programming and podcasts like this one, visit AmericanPublicMedia.org slash action to learn how you can help. One more time, that's AmericanPublicMedia.org slash action. Thanks so much for standing up for public media. Are you ready? Because it's time for the moment of um. This is where we answer the questions that make us go...
Moment of Um is brought to you by the Brains On Podcast. I'm Mark Sanchez. Let's all take a trip to the beach, shall we? The sound of waves coming on the shore, oh, that just puts me at ease. I can almost feel the sand between my toes as I take a relaxing stroll along the beach. It's such a great sound, it's no wonder people think they hear the ocean when they put a seashell to their ears.
An ocean in a seashell is what got Felix from Stockton, New Jersey, thinking. I would like to know how you hear the ocean in a shell. Not only did Felix send us this question, but he also took a stab at answering it. So basically, it's probably just the air rushing around inside the shell from other things and other animals. So when you do hear the ocean in the shell,
Well, then it's not really the ocean, it's just the air that you hear in the show. He's correct. My name is Steve Aretti. I'm an emeritus professor of physics here at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. If you have any arbitrarily shaped container, for example, a pop bottle, there will be...
resonances of sound at certain frequencies because of the shape of that container. And the shape of the container actually dictates what those resonant frequencies are. So if you blow across the mouth of a pop bottle, you will hear a pitch. So if you have a shell, the shell has a different shape from a pop bottle, obviously. That shape
dictates what kinds of resonances at certain frequencies it will have. The air is actually oscillating in and out of the shell. When you turn it from side to side, you can hear different resonant frequencies, and that's sort of reminiscent of the sound of waves crashing on the beach at an ocean. So people say you can hear the ocean in a seashell. Um, um, um...
You know who else likes an empty shell? Hermit crabs. They're always on the lookout for a shell that's larger than the one they already have so they can keep growing. I wonder if they can hear the ocean in there. If you liked this episode, take a second to subscribe to Moment of Um wherever you listen to your podcasts. And if you just can't wait to hear more, check out the Brains On podcast.
If you have a moment of unquestion, we would love to help you answer it. Drop us a line by going to brainson.org slash contact. Until then. Is there a teen in your life who needs a little extra help learning how to manage their finances? Financially Inclined from Marketplace is a podcast you can trust to help Gen Z get serious about money.
I'm the host, Janelia Espinal, and each week I talk to experts about essential and practical personal finance topics, like choosing a college that you can actually afford, finding internship opportunities, and how to start a business while you're still young. Let's make sure the next generation gets these financial lessons sooner than we did. Listen to Financially Inclined wherever you get your podcasts.