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can you really shatter a glass with a high note howstuffworks mobile menu howstuffworks science tech home garden auto culture more more health money animals lifestyle entertainment quizzes mobile newsletter 1 submit search search close search science tech home garden auto culture health money animals lifestyle entertainment quizzes submit search sign up for our newsletter mobile newsletter banner close howstuffworks newsletter mobile newsletter chat close mobile newsletter chat dots mobile newsletter chat dots mobile newsletter chat dots mobile newsletter chat avatar mobile newsletter chat subscribe advertisement howstuffworks science physical science acoustics can you really shatter a glass with a high note by christine venzon updated mar 12 2024 share content on facebook share content on linkedin share content on flipboard share content on reddit share content via email if the conditions are just right it s possible to shatter glass with the human voice purestock thinkstock key takeaways it is possible to shatter glass with a high pitched sound under specific conditions for glass to shatter the sound must match the glass s natural resonant frequency around 556 hertz and be sufficiently loud around 105 decibels an empty wine glass especially a thin one is ideal for this experiment due to its ability to amplify stress per particle it s opera s equivalent of the slip on the banana peel scene the soprano on stage hits a high note so long and piercing that it cracks the opera glasses of the elegant dowager in the box seat hollywood can do that with a trick of editing but is it possible in real life well yes it is but so is being struck by lightning in other words it takes a rare convergence of particular conditions to understand these conditions and how they work together a crash course in acoustics is in order advertisement sound is acoustic energy like electricity sound energy travels through substances in waves which excites the substance s particles and causes them to vibrate at a certain frequency frequency refers to the number of waves passing through a given point over a given period of time and we measure frequency in hertz one hertz equals one wave per second every substance has a natural or resonant frequency the frequency at which its own atoms vibrate for example suppose your bass guitar playing neighbor cracks the plaster on your walls when she plays a low driving bass line the frequency of a bass guitar s lower deeper notes run from 40 to 150 hertz the quality of your neighbor s speakers also will affect the quality of the sound thus the plaster s resonant frequency must fall somewhere in that range because when a substance encounters a frequency it matches it absorbs the energy rather than reflecting it source san diego opera glass shattering waves carry more energy they re shorter and choppier thus more of them pass through per second at roughly 556 hertz source san diego opera to shatter glass the note s frequency must be the same as that of the glass that s one condition the note also has to be loud too a quality known as intensity intensity is measured in decibels while conversational tones average 50 to 60 decibels a trained vocalist might have the pipes to approach the approximately 105 decibels needed to break glass source san diego opera even then he or she would have to be so close as to risk serious facial cuts if the glass explodes more likely a boost of electronic amplification would be needed finally the glass must be strategically selected a wine glass is a good choice it s fine and thin unlike say a beer stein which maximizes the amount of stress per particle an empty glass cracks more readily although less dramatically than one containing wine air being less dense than liquid carries sound better and if you can find a wine glass with a flaw in its structure even an invisible one that helps by providing a weak spot incidentally real world tests involving resonant frequencies offer more than an excuse to shatter glass resonant frequency is the basis of ultrasonic testing which is used to determine the safety of structures ranging from pipelines to airplanes ultrasonic testing is a type of nondestructive testing ndt which allows engineers to monitor the integrity of construction materials as where and while they re used which is preferable to otherwise dismantling a building or airplane for analysis in a laboratory advertisement frequently asked questions can any type of glass be shattered by sound not all types of glass can be shattered by sound the glass needs to be thin and have a specific shape like a wine glass to resonate properly with the sound s frequency how does the shape of a glass affect its susceptibility to shattering by sound the shape of the glass affects its natural resonant frequency a wine glass s elongated bowl and thin structure make it more likely to resonate and shatter when exposed to a matching frequency sound lots more information author s note can you really shatter a glass with a high note a few years ago i was cleaning the kitchen when i tipped a chair too far back on its rear legs it slipped from my hand and hit the oven door the door s window exploded into a dramatic vitreous meteor shower the floor glistened stunning as a winter landscape after an ice storm although the source of the energy was not sonic the outcome was similar and just as unlikely guess i was just lucky related articles ultrasonics resonance how can you make a wine glass sing can a sound wave kill you what is a decibel and how is it measured more great links music science at university of new south wales acoustical society of america what are the acoustic wonders of the world sources american society for nondestructive testing introduction to nondestructive testing may 24 2015 https www asnt org minorsitesections aboutasnt intro to ndt bergman paul soundproofing uhf magazine no 63 may 27 2015 http www uhfmag com issue63 soundproofing html huff chris the art of bass eq using eight key frequency ranges behindthemixer com sept 6 2011 may 24 2014 http www behindthemixer com art bass eq using eight key frequency ranges ndt resource center nondestructive testing in the aerospace industry may 24 2015 https www nde ed org aboutndt selectedapplications aircraftinspection aircraft 20inspection htm ndt resource center the components of sound may 22 2015 https www nde ed org educationresources highschool sound components htm san diego opera physics connections lesson two intensity and the human voice may 23 2015 https www sdopera com content science music physics lesson2 pdf shrock karen fact or fiction an opera singer s piercing voice can shatter glass scientific american aug 23 2007 may 21 2015 http www scientificamerican com article fact or fiction opera singer can shatter glass cite this please copy paste the following text to properly cite this howstuffworks com article copy christine venzon can you really shatter a glass with a high note 1 january 1970 howstuffworks com https science howstuffworks com shatter glass with high note htm 19 april 2026 close citation more awesome stuff up next how to measure sound travel in the air explore more you may like 10 connections between physics and music explore more keep reading 10 unidentified sounds that scientists are seriously looking into explore more advertisement advertisement loading n n t t t t return t byline_authors_html e by t byline_authors_html t byline_authors_html t byline_date_html e t byline_date_html e t byline_date_html e n t t t t n t t t t n n t t t t t body_html replaceall pt pt t id _ replaceall pt pt t id _ n n t t t n this loadeddiv innerhtml r document title n title howstuffworks const s content loaded n id o document getelementbyid s o dataset contentid n id const l o queryselectorall lazyload hsw utilities lazyloadelements l hsw ux editorial init twitter 0 facebook 0 instagram 0 o queryselectorall toc a foreach t t addeventlistener click t t 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eventaction continuous load eventlabel new content eventvalue e 1 virtualpageurl t href n this items length const m pagemetricsdata t items push m const f document getelementsbyclassname new content loaded for let e 0 e advertisement advertisement advertisement var railadlasttemplate advertisement function adfill return triggerelement null observer null isobserverpolyfilled 1 nextindex 0 maxindex 30 disabled 1 init e if off hsw utilities hashargs ads return if article structured pagemetricsdata ctype hsw utilities ismobile 1 userdata adsactive return const t this this triggerelement document queryselector continuous ad load trigger this nextindex e this nextindex intersectionobserver in window intersectionobserverentry in window isintersecting in window intersectionobserverentry prototype intersectionratio in window intersectionobserverentry prototype this observer new intersectionobserver function e 0 e 0 isintersecting t getnextad rootmargin 1000px 0px threshold 01 this observer 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