possible to make directional infrasound from a small device?

Is it possible to produce infrasounds (in the 7 to 20 Hz range) with a small (coat pocket size) electronic device? For example, can a small speaker produce such low sounds?

And if so, is it possible to use a reasonably small parabolic reflector to aim them?

(I have a feeling the answer to both is no.)

Reply to
Bob Fnord
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Produce, yes; project, not easily. Only in the near-field wouild the sound seem 'loud'.

Not really, no. One can cheat, of course; produce 35.007 kHz and 35 kHz ultrasound, and direct those together. An 'ear' with some nonlinear response could hear the 7 Hz component, even if it were insensitive to the ultrasound.

Reply to
whit3rd

Follow your feeling.

Reply to
Sjouke Burry

To have reasonable directivity, the size of the emitter needs to be large with respect to wavelength. At 12 Hz, you have about 28 m wavelength in air. So a small (hand held) device will not produce a narrow beam when emitting 7...20 Hz audio in air.

You can compare your situation with radar antennas. Look to the "old" HF over the horizon radar systems (OTH radar).

Best regards,

Wim PA3DJS

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Reply to
Wimpie

It might be possible if high power compression (shock) waves were directed at 7 per second. But not sinusoid.

--
Dirk

http://www.neopax.com/technomage/ - My new book
http://www.transcendence.me.uk/ - Transcendence UK
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/onetribe - Occult Talk Show
Reply to
Dirk Bruere at NeoPax

Interestingly you can make a highly directive emitter with a subwavelength structure, provided it's resonant. Schelkunoff wrote a paper back in the 1930s about how to do it with antennas.

Google "electrically small antennas".

They're not noted for extreme efficiency, however.

Resonant loops, as used in crystal radios, are also electrically small antennas--their effective area is increased by a factor of (I think) Q**2.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs
Principal
ElectroOptical Innovations
55 Orchard Rd
Briarcliff Manor NY 10510
845-480-2058

email: hobbs (atsign) electrooptical (period) net
http://electrooptical.net
Reply to
Phil Hobbs

I think Bill Beatty at amasci.com has a lot on that topic IIRC

--
Dirk

http://www.neopax.com/technomage/ - My new book
http://www.transcendence.me.uk/ - Transcendence UK
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/onetribe - Occult Talk Show
Reply to
Dirk Bruere at NeoPax

Why would you want to do that?

John

Reply to
John Larkin

Same reason I wanted to do this when I was 16 - to blast people into jelly.

--
Dirk

http://www.neopax.com/technomage/ - My new book
http://www.transcendence.me.uk/ - Transcendence UK
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/onetribe - Occult Talk Show
Reply to
Dirk Bruere at NeoPax

Maybe a clip on device like the kind you attach to a seat. It would have to be very heavy to work at all. Maybe a fan ??

I hear air handler sounds in that range but need huge fans or motors.

Funny, I was getting about 7 Hz in my house a couple years back. off and On. Like the earths resonance. It would last up to 30 seconds and vibrate doors and windows.

greg

Reply to
G

Is this what the tin foil hat brigade is on about?

Reply to
Greegor

Ask your friends in the KOOK group, you KOOK bastard.

Reply to
TheGlimmerMan

.
t

Hello Phil,

You are right, it is surprising toe see then when you try to cancel most of the radiation from an electrically small array (by playing with phase and amplitude), you can have a direction where the canceling is not that large anymore (so you have directivity).

The Q factor issue will very likely be present for audio also as the transducers in the array must cancel most of the sound pressure produced by the transducers. This will result in local sound pressure far beyond what a gas at 1 Bar can support, I think.

Wim PA3DJS

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without abc, PM will reach me.

Reply to
Wimpie

Phased ultrasound arrays in air are quite do-able, and are in fact used in some types of non-lethal area denial weapons.

BTW, air can support almost arbitrary pressures as long as they are not negative.

--
Dirk

http://www.neopax.com/technomage/ - My new book
http://www.transcendence.me.uk/ - Transcendence UK
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/onetribe - Occult Talk Show
Reply to
Dirk Bruere at NeoPax

"
a
**2.

.net

This will be the problem, the nearby sound pressure for a superdirective array with size < lambda must be extremely high to get useful output at distance. In such cases atmospheric pressure will be the limitation (and the hardware to generate it).

.uk/- Transcendence UK

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Occult Talk Sh= ow

Best regards,

Wim PA3DJS

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remove abc first before sending PM.

Reply to
Wimpie

BF > Is it possible to produce infrasounds BF > (in the 7 to 20 Hz range) with a small BF > (coat pocket size) electronic device? BF > For example, can a small speaker NF > produce such low sounds?

BF > And if so, is it possible to use a reasonably BF > small parabolic reflector to aim them?

G > Is this what the tin foil hat brigade is on about?

Archie > =A0Ask your friends in the KOOK group, you KOOK bastard.

Why are you so cranky about this, Archie?

Reply to
Greegor

Go away, you retarded KOOK bastard.

Reply to
TheGlimmerMan

If the sound power is high enough, air nonlinearity produces energy at the difference frequency. It's not just in your head. In that case, you'd want to be several wavelengths distant from your victim, to give your sound beam enough time to convert itself from ultrasound to subsonic.

See the "hypersonic" speakers (speakers, and nonlethal weapons.)

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Often I've wondered what you'd get if you connected a big electrostatic loudspeaker to a Tesla Coil output. Hundreds of watts of acoustic power? (Try a 50KHz TC. Try a bowl-shaped ESL, so the ultrasound comes to a focus. Perhaps it would char an absorptive object.)

Reply to
Bill Beaty

Not square waves from a small multivibrator either, I guess?

Reply to
Bob Fnord

I doubted it, but worth asking. Thanks.

What kind of 'ear'?

Reply to
Bob Fnord

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