Raindrop Acoustics

  • Released Tuesday, April 5, 2005
View full credits

SMALL RAINDROP ANIMATION - When a small raindrop falls on the ocean, it produces sound underwater by its impact on the ocean surface and, more importantly, by sound created from a bubble trapped underwater during its splash. Different raindrop sizes produce distinctive sounds. When recorded underwater, small raindrops make a sound like a hiss.
The following animation is first simulated as a real-time small raindrop, and then slowed down to demonstrate the distinct sound of impact and the subsequent ring of the higher frequency sound made by the bubble.

This is the standard definition version of the Small Raindrop animation MPEG.

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image lab

This page was originally published on Tuesday, April 5, 2005.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:56 PM EDT.