Diamond and the sound of a gunshot series#

A barometer at the Batavia gasworks (100 miles away from Krakatoa) registered the ensuing spike in pressure at over 2.5 inches of mercury.

In general, sounds are caused not by the end of the world but by fluctuations in air pressure. I am convinced that the Day of Judgement has come.вЂќДЄ map showing the area in which the Krakatoa explosion could be heard.В (Credit: вЂњThe eruption of Krakatoa, and subsequent phenomena,вЂќ 1888) The shipвЂ™s captain wrote in his log, вЂњSo violent are the explosions that the ear-drums of over half my crew have been shattered. The British ship Norham Castle was 40 miles from Krakatoa at the time of the explosion. In all, the Dutch (the colonial rulers of Indonesia at the time) estimated the death toll at 36,417, while other estimates exceed 120,000. One hundred sixty-five coastal villages and settlements were swept away and entirely destroyed. This explosion created a deadly tsunami with waves over a hundred feet (30 meters) in height. ThatвЂ™s more than twice the speed of sound. You could use this observation to calculate that stuff spewed out of the volcano at over 1,600 miles per hour - or nearly half a mile per second. So what could possibly create such an earth-shatteringly loud bang? A volcano on Krakatoa had just erupted with a force so great that it tore the island apart, emitting a plume of smoke that reached 17 miles into the atmosphere, according to a geologist who witnessed it. This is the most distant sound that has ever been heard in recorded history. Travelling at the speed of sound (766 miles or 1,233 kilometers per hour), it takes a noise about 4 hours to cover that distance. What weвЂ™re talking about here is like being in Boston and clearly hearing a noise coming from Dublin, Ireland. But Boston is a mere 200 miles from New York. If youвЂ™re in Boston and someone tells you that they heard a sound coming from New York City, youвЂ™re probably going to give them a funny look. Think, for a moment, just how crazy this is.

Diamond and the sound of a gunshot series#

It was heard 1,300 miles away in the Andaman and Nicobar islands (вЂњextraordinary sounds were heard, as of guns firingвЂќ) 2,000 miles away in New Guinea and Western Australia (вЂњa series of loud reports, resembling those of artillery in a north-westerly directionвЂќ) and even 3,000 miles away in the Indian Ocean island of Rodrigues, near Mauritius ( вЂњcoming from the eastward, like the distant roar of heavy guns.вЂќ ) In all, it was heard by people in over 50 different geographical locations, together spanning an area covering a thirteenth of the globe. It was 10:02 AM local time when the sound emerged from the island of Krakatoa, which sits between Java and Sumatra in Indonesia. On 27 August 1883, the Earth let out a noise louder than any it has made since.