This device is similar to the popular noise cancelling technology found in personal headsets, pilot headsets, etc. The difference is that the device would modulate the output frequency and adaptively time the pulse to compound and amplify sound waves at their source. In layman's terms: you would point the canon at your target of choice....in this example an automobile driving through your neighborhood with a lot of obnoxious bass pounding from the trunk...you pull the trigger and send a pulse of the same exact frequency and amplitude, electronically timed so that it arrives just slightly before the pulse being emitted from the car and amplifies that sound exponentially. The resulting sound wave should generate enough compressive force to literally blow the windows out of the vehicle. Other uses could apply (see the following link to an already existing military example ->
-- benjaminsbox, May 16 2006

Washington Times article http://washingtonti...07-120634-6220r.htm
[benjaminsbox, May 16 2006]

very simmilar to this Cannondrum
but this one is passive. [bleh, Sep 13 2006]

xkcd: bass (late 2007) http://www.xkcd.com/368/
"Okay, now throw the switch labelled 'Marcarena'" [jutta, Jan 15 2008]

Audio annoyance deterrent Audio_20annoyance_20deterrent
SSPS. [phoenix, Jan 15 2008]

yep! https://www.youtube...watch?v=So-aZO6BSL8
the word [popbottle, Dec 27 2014]

It won't work for a lot of reasons. Especially not for bass--notice that the sound weapon in the (irrelevant) link emits high-pitched noise. Fishbone for flummery.
-- baconbrain, May 16 2006


This deviced is definitely half baked, however I like where your headed with the idea. A possible variation would be an actual cannon ball with a sound proof shell. You would release an obsurd amount of decibells of sound waves into the hollow center enough that the dying noise would still be very loud on impact and fire. The problem with this approach is that the cannon ball would vibrate so much that it would crush your hands if handled.
-- Phaedrus, Sep 13 2006


so the idea here is to use constructive interference to destroy a sound generating device?

1st question: //you pull the trigger and send a pulse of the same exact frequency and amplitude, electronically timed so that it arrives just slightly before the pulse being emitted from the car and amplifies that sound exponentially.// how do it know?

this assumes that the next bass note emitted will be exactly the same frequency and at a regular interval. also, it wouldnt amplify the sound exponentially it would simply be the addition of the 2 waves.if you sent a pulse of the samefrequency and amplitude and timed it just right, you would double the amplitude of the resultant wave.

2nd question: what is responsable for the timing?

if a car is moving through the neighborhood, you would have to first determine a distance from the car when the origional pulse was emmitted, then calculate delay from emission to reception by your device. then, calculate the speed of the car to compensate for the doppler effect on the pulse you observe. then calculate the distance and relative speed the car will be traveling when you fire the pulse and recompensate for both doppler effect and the lagtime of sound in air (about 343 m/s).

I like the idea of distructive sound waves, but this was better realised in cannondrum (link)

on this occasion i must bone, sorry.
-- bleh, Sep 13 2006


//you pull the trigger and send a pulse of the same exact frequency and amplitude//

Baked. This is called an amplifier. It's generally used for amplifying sound signals, such as in microphones and on guitars. Also, you ordinarily need to increase the amplitude in order to get a much louder noise, unless you are using constructive interference, which brings me to my next point....

//you pull the trigger and send a pulse of the same exact frequency and amplitude, electronically timed so that it arrives just slightly before the pulse being emitted from the car and amplifies that sound exponentially//

Unless you are inside the car that you are trying to blow up, then you are talking about time travel here. Since I am going to assume that you are in the next car over from the one you are trying to blow up, then [mfd] for bad science.

//and amplifies that sound exponentially//

you mean by 2x.... A+A=2A

//to literally blow the windows out of the vehicle//

Once again, you are in the next car over, so you'd be trying to blow the windows into the vehicle. This is easier achieved at high amplitude resonant frequencies than with compressive forces, and it's not easy finding the resonant frequencies of a window unless you have a sliding scale frequency modulator and some kind of adjustable bullhorn.

//blow the windows out of the vehicle//

This is illegal. Breaking a law of the government is just as aweful as breaking the laws of physics.

You need to go through your local legislative or election process to get the laws of the land changed, and you need to go through your local physics textbook to learn more about the laws of physics. Good luck!
-- quantum_flux, Jan 17 2008


Now, if you wanted to frame that guy in the jeep on you left, you could amplify the sound traversing through your vehicle so that it smashes the window out on the rich lawyer guy on your right.... mwahahaha. You didn't do anything illegal then because you were passively broadcasting loud noises instead of actively broadcasting them. That's the old "Rude Passenger on Bus Cussing at Bus Driver with a Microphone in Hand Rule of 1930," or law RPOBCABDMHR-1930 that they haven't changed yet.
-- quantum_flux, Jan 17 2008



random, halfbakery