Musical Sand Dunes

[saturnianspire]

No need for toilet paper in Death Valley, lol.

[StandingRedPanda]

I can't believe it! So friction creates this sound? Amazing! Can't wait to visit some deserts :D

[notrombones]

I've been to other dunes in the desert that made the same sound.

I'm so glad it's been documented so well.

When a large volume of sand slides down, it makes a deep humming tone like an airplane going over. But there is no airplane. It's spooky, and really cool.

[Barox213]

This is what they call the "Howling of the Djinn" in middle east. I read an article about this in a science magazine, but I had never heard it. I don't remember very well but it has something to do with the silicon in the sand. Water does sounds, snow does it too and sand, this is normal. Even an avalanche of sugar would make his own sound.

[carpetmonk]

streaky poo's in ya under-roo's! gonna get rashes back there!

[CHistrue]

I got a geat sound in 2001, but in 2011 I got only a faint sound. I think that the stronger wind in 2001 must have influenced the sound!

[bloodstone1445]

And this is how the Egyptians used resonant frequency to build the pyramids.

[AllanSanches]

Hahaha, wtf that sound is scarying

[janopiano]

wow...... now...that is how you scratch your ass

[Invalidicity]

lol, fail with the girl at the end trying to sandboard

[rebeccarml]

this is so cool! Just read about this in an MCAT passage and I had to check it out.

[DrThunder88]

I'd be worried about getting a scorpion up my pants. Of course, I'm always worried about that.

[laser74hobby]

I beat there butts are "chapped" HA HA

[Iaxobus]

haha the guy at the end tryin to surf down

[GoldaGurl23]

whoa

[ZeroSable]

I didnt hear anything i only seen people banging the sand and enjoying it

[ElveeKaye]

It's that deep humming sort of noise you hear in the background. The dunes make that noise when you slide down them or the wind blows across them.

[thedangling]

thanks for just recording the sound and not explaining the sound;how you got the sound;who you are;adding a soundtrack and telling your entire story without ever letting us actually hear the sound like all the other videos about the singing dunes.

[orgminyak]

This was for a documentary on death valley.

[slashingraven]

@dangling, perhaps you just don't have a subwoofer or decent speakers? I could hear the sound perfectly well, a very powerful low hum.

[thedangling]

youve misunderstood me

i am saying thank you for posting an unadulterated video of the dunes as opposed to telling me about it without actually letting me hear it like all the other videos on this subject.

thank you,nonetheless

[BluncheonMeat]

Don't really know how that works, but it was funny watching those guys shimmy down the sand dune!

[AbelMagwitch73]

How does this work? What causes it? Is there a hollow space under the dune?

[ElveeKaye]

They think it's caused when the grains of moving sand set up a vibration that gets carried throughout the whole upper layer of the dune. The surface sand is dryer than the deeper layers underneath, and the upper layer vibrates, making a deep booming or humming noise. There's a Nat. Geo. video about it.

[AbelMagwitch73]

Thanks for that. I find it amazing that such a simple thing is not entirely understood.

[Saromatae]

Sounds like the opening score to 2001 A Space Odyssey.

[Morninse]

Yo I also want sand in my vagina, wait for me!

[ediirwin]

Hey! I saw them doing that - I was on a nearby dune practicing on my bass viol at the time.

[honestyxo]

thats crazyy!

[wangchun77]

did they die?

[jessekarate08]

dude stop saying that do you have to say that on every vid?

[abigailgeli]

don't wake them up!...that's an echo for bad spirit!...research it.

[23580578]

bad spirit ,,,,,,kindly explain it a little bit

[TheReasonWhyGuy]

love it

[mcrelly]

fake...

[KevL75]

dick...

[LOLDISNEYLAND]

damn hippies

[raflim]

It really makes sound..?

[Deanjunkie666]

yes. when ever the wind goes through the sand and the tiny grains rub together, it creates a humming noise. marco polo heard various noises from the firing of arms, war drums, and others.

[VitaAucyniene]

where are these dunes ?

[skycastles79]

I do not hear anything.

[vrmtklr]

Well now, that's one minute of my life that i'll never get back.

[arinarz]

COOL!!!

[hbtharle]

Interesting!

[DracoReincarnated]

"And here we see, the elusive sand-dwelling butt-rubbers. Usually traveling in packs, these animals respond to intrusion by creating an avalanche of sand."

[latinlova82]

OMG THATS SO FUNNY!!! you made me laugh like crazy. : )

[thnkredd]

I can't stop laughing. Just for this description I need to pass this one along!! Thanks so much! LMAO

[jianfongyaw]

@DracoReincarnated

just as i thought, a little avalanche of sand

[confacade]

Haunting. Almost surreal.

[sorrowfulwings]

if there is little oil in the sand, and the humidity is high, then the rubbing sand particles emit sound,which is multiplied and reverberated off the face of the sand dune. The more sand moving, the louder and deeper the sound

[tech6514]

Maybe this has something to do with the Egyptians using sound waves to transport the blocks used to build the pyramids.

[animalnt]

the auchestra in the background diddnt help?

[djalbino99]

ORCHESTRA!

Not auchestra!!

[kakarote2010]

hahahahhahahahah lol

[abrown532]

how does it make a noise

[KamiKaziChicken]

Oh no, we don't understand it so its gotta be fake

[takineko]

Just like God!

[1337cookie]

but we do have some physical evidence

[takineko]

exactly.

[snakefootak]

Wow, that was loud. Shook one of the pictures off  the wall!

[kpnutswales]

hey did they eat beans the night before lol

[rachykinz]

Fakeness.

[newscientistvideo]

Hi rachykinz and leadbellydan,

The footage isn't fake - we wouldn't ever fake something like this! :) It comes from Nathalie Maria Vriend at CalTech, and is 100% genuine. Our reporter David Cohen went out to Death Valley and heard the dunes himself. He gives a very detailed personal account of his experience in the attached article.

Michael Marshall, online editorial assistant

[CronicFiend]

@rachykinz its real man i saw something like this on the tv the other day, crazy shit! some insects and lizards hunt from the sounds that come through the dunes

[IIIFJ]

@rachykinz

I live in the middle east.

We have allot of sand dunes and I go safari almost every week.

We do hear those sound's when we driving down from a dune..

It's like an airplane following you.. its really amazing and scary sound.

[redghost105]

@rachykinz the sand is coted in a certain material that when it rubs against the other sand thats coated makes a noise...people back then before they knew about why it happend thought it was because it was haunted

[leadbellydan]

fake

[thornebush5]

If science fact is fake, then sure, but musical sand dunes are fairly well known around the world.

[leadbellydan]

its a conspiracy man

[fattoldpig]

yes its got to be a conspiracy! lets make a youtube video on it & gather up followers lol

[confacade]

was referring to the noise.

[OriginAndAbsolution]

its basically wind + angle of Dune + Weight Of Dune = Oscilating sand creating lowish humm

[onevoss]

hok

[organicsteam]

If you can't hear it, try putting headphones on, or trying from another computer. The low frequencies are not always audible from laptop speakers. I couldn't hear anything but the human voices when I tried listening from the laptop's speakers, but when I put my headphones on I heard the didgeridoo-ish sound. awesome!

[GreasyJo]

o wow, i remember when i lived in qatar some dunes used to do that

[dudeglove]

Rubbish. Bunch of hippies with nothing better to do.

[TheRealOzzy]

turn up the volume moron

[iwanjones998]

stupid video

[AudioOllie]

i must ask.....just why? lol

[kilhorne]

I'm glad I don't have to dig their holes out!

[novasco55]

Ars scratch sickening to watch

[mr2cooper]

They seem to be suffering from "ring-sting" try some Germolene..lol

[Steelie2006]

My dog does this, try Bob Martin's...

[tobyjug48]

I find andrex more effective

[lastdaydawning]

lol

[mattistheemperor]

nice to know california institute of technology get up to

[nl59]

i think its a plane going over to my ears! and sandboading down those dunes is just beautiful. but i never heard that sound

[UpsidedownMind]

cant hear owt

[Broshmosh]

Its to do with frequencies. not everyone's ears are able to pick up on the very low or very high pitched noises.

[Mexicanseafooduk]

no sound...

[EEwisewolf]

turn the volume up

[Mexicanseafooduk]

did do. full volume. works for all other vids.

[iBulgey]

what...?

[koolkurtis123]

wtf wats tht ??

[fjshepherd93]

Astonishing and really quite weird!

[shararararararara]

My EYES ZE GOGGLEZ!! ZEY DO NUTHING!!

[Marcus538]

I always got turned off science and higher education because teachers and academics always seemed to be up their own arses, for as far as i could see no apparent reason, this video proves just that. Aren't they so awfully awfully clever.

[weeg91]

if you look top left corner @ 25sec you see a bomber above em...

[illt65]

There has to be a better way of applying Haemorrhoid treatment, surley to god!!

[PyrozPlayground]

Which part of this is musical again? 0_o

[MattBlytheTheOne]

didgery dunes!

[MetalGuy331]

im sure that works. it looks completely fake

[col1n1234]

My son can make that sound by lifting his leg and farting, and it smells like death, any conection . lol

[KENKENNIFF]

This is bound to be reposted at Scientists with Worms. What are the theories ? Is there is some sort of chain reaction going on and the cummulative effect of lots of small collisions is generating the sound.

[Planehazza]

Nah I think they just like getting off over the sand dunes :D

Just the sand not sting the crack? :P

[JohnDeBunkTest]

Marco Polo, one of the first to document this phenomenon, attributed it to evil spirits 700 years ago.

V = 230 m/s. Frequency ranges from 70 - 105 Hz indicates a resonant length scale in the order of 2 to 3 meters.

So far researchers are incapable to agree on a reason (perhaps because Marco Polo's spirits are interfering?).

[narcoleptus]

Take it those characters trying to surf the dunes were scientists undertaking research!!

[Unfathomable42]

Science can be so hard sometimes!

[KatieandCoco]

Groovy!

[Blahcetera]

If this was my summer research, I'd be happy (although Death Valley sounds intimidating).

[marjan15]

whats the frequency?

[bitRAKE]

IIRC (if I recall correctly), it's very low - like 7-10 Hz. As you can imagine there are many harmonics. There is some research indicating the pyramids in Eygpt are/were sympathetic resonant.

[PolliFaxToaster]

subsonic vibrations attract sand worms. arrakis is a dangerous place.

[RoadRunnerLaser]

LOL... Yeah... Slide down that dune on your butt without rhythm !!! I'm not sure that's quite how 'Paul' put it.

[louiskeal]

God i love the dune series... anyway, its 70-105 i think - since we can't hear below 18?