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Now I’m not talking about whistling in a vacuum. It’s obvious that attempting to do so would fail. But even astronauts on spacewalks in protective suits can’t whistle. Why not? Former astronaut Dan Barry explained:
“You can’t whistle because the air pressure in the suit is only 4.3 [pounds per square inch], and normal atmospheric pressure is 14.7 psi, so there are not enough air molecules blowing by your lips to make a sound,” he said.[...]
Jeff Hoffman, a retired astronaut with three spacewalks (including a mission to repair the Hubble telescope) has traveled 21.5 million miles in space. He said the technicians who trained him on spacewalks had told him that he wouldn’t be able to whistle, but he says he tried anyway.
“I couldn’t get one note out,” he said.
Link -via First Things | Photo: NASA
If you like’d like to belt out a tune, you’d better not be outside in Sullivan’s Island in South Carolina. There, singing or even whistling in public can get you a $500 fine:
The town of Sullivan’s Island has proposed an ordinance that would make it illegal to belt out show tunes, pop songs, or any musical notes, for that matter, if they disturb the peace.
"I haven’t had one islander complain about it," said Andy Benke, the town administrator. "There are places where you can go and be loud and vociferous. Sullivan’s Island is not one of them."
"We want you to have a good time but in the same sense we want you to act respectful and if you don’t we have a tool to deal with it," Benke added.
That tool would be a ticket from a police officer for a maximum fine of $500. And the ban isn’t just for singing.
The measure reads as follows:
"It shall be unlawful for any person to yell, shout, hoot, whistle, or sing on the public streets, particularly between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. or at any time or place so as to annoy or disturb the comfort, or repose of persons in any office, or in any dwelling, or other type of residence, or of any persons in the vicinity."
Bonnie, a 30-year-old female orangutan living at the Smithsonian National Zoological Part in Washington, D.C., started doing something strange one day: she started whistling!
Scientists have long known that orangutans copy physical movements of humans, but Bonnie’s whistling indicates that the learning capacities of orangutans and other great apes in the auditory domain might be more flexible than previously believed, Wich said. The behavior goes against the argument that orangutans have no control over their vocalizations and the sounds are purely emotional that is, an involuntary response to stimuli such as predators.
Bonnie appears to whistle for the sake of making a sound rather than to receive a food reward or some other incentive. If asked to whistle, she is likely to oblige, another indication to scientists that she makes the sound voluntarily.
Link | Video of the whistling orangutan – Thanks casey!
