Humans are constantly researching our home planet, looking into every nook and cranny to see what’s there, what it’s made of and why things are the way they are. And we love it when we find something unexpected.
Princeton University geochemist John Higgins shared this video on Twitter that shows some strange goings-on in Antarctica. The two videos in the tweet below show what happens when a chunk of ice is dropped down a 450-foot borehole. As it falls, we hear a sound that could easily be a “shoot out” from a Bugs Bunny cartoon!
Here’s the story on this crazy sound (V1), plus the basic science @blueicehiggins, myself, & others do studying past climate with #Antarctic ice cores. 🇦🇶🧊❄️ pic.twitter.com/QAtjcxXXGh
— Peter Neff (@icy_pete) February 8, 2020
What causes this wild sound? According to Higgins, it’s the Doppler effect of the sound produced by the ice bouncing off the side of the hole. Even though the actual sound is the same pitch all the way down, the fact that it’s traveling away from us changes the pitch of what we hear. You can read more about the Doppler effect here.
Want to hear more? Watch the video below and please leave us a Facebook comment to let us know what you thought!
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