I came across an interesting article online about the loudest sound recorded in history. I would like to share some of the interesting points here. The article said it was the huge eruption of Krakatoa, an island in Indonesia located between Java and Sumatra. It happened in 1883, and the noise was recorded at 172 decibels (dB) at a point about 160 km from the island. Personally, I have no idea how loud that is, so I looked it up for reference: * 120 dB: the sound of an aircraft engine when we are very close to a plane * 110 dB: when someone is honking at you within 2 metres * 100 dB: when you are under a railway bridge There is a limit to how loud sound can be, which is around 194 dB in air. It seems that sound pressure above 194 dB cannot propagate through air. This is called a “shock wave”, and it pushes air with extremely high pressure. The eruption of Krakatoa was almost like this. The high-pressure air generated a blast wave, and because of it, fishermen’s eardrums reportedly burst even from about 40 miles away from the island. According to records from observatories around the world, the compression wave generated by the Krakatoa eruption is thought to have travelled around the Earth three or four times over five days. “The Scream” by Munch is one of the most well-known paintings in the world. It has an eerie background colour. Actually, there is a theory that the background was inspired by the unusual colours of the sky after the Krakatoa eruption. The eruption occurred in 1883, whereas Munch painted “The Scream” in 1893. So, the eruption may have influenced his work. This kind of disaster is not just something that affects other people. I really hope something like this never happens again.

I came across an interesting article online about the loudest sound ever recorded in history. I would like to share some of the interesting points here. The article said that the loudest sound was a huge volcanic eruption in Krakatoa, an island in Indonesia, located between the islands of Java and Sumatra. It happened in 1883 and the noise level recorded was 172 decibels [dB] at a point about 160 km from the island. Personally, I have no idea how loud it is so I googled it for your reference. 120 dB: is an engine's sound when we are very close to the airplane 110 dB: when someone is honking you within 2 meters 100 dB: when you are under a railway bridge. The loudness maximum limit is 194 dB in the air. It seems that the sound waves more than 194 dB can't pass through air. This sound is called the "Shock Wave" and it pushes air with high pressure explosively. The eruption in Krakatoa was almost the same thing. Air with extremely high pressure generated a blast wave, and because of it, a fisherman's eardrums burst. He was about 40 miles away from the Island. According to records from various observatories across the world, it is thought that the compression wave generated in Krakatoa traveled around the Earth three or four times over 5 days. "The Scream" by Munch is one of the most iconic paintings in the world. It looks like it has an eerie background color. Actally, there is a theory that the background was modeled after the mysterious sun color just after the Krakatoa's eruption. The eruption occurred in 1883, while Munch drew the "The Scream" in 1893. So, the eruption was an inspiration to Munch's works. This kind of disaster is not just about something that happened to other people. I really hope this kind of thing will never happen again.