They actually did this one on Mythbusters. As it turns out, a duck’s quack has an odd waveform that tends to cancel itself out better than a lot of other sounds. What actually happens is that an echoing quack sounds just about like a non-echoing quack—that is, a duck’s quack sounds like it’s echoing even when it isn’t, so if you’re familiar with what ducks sound like, you won’t notice it echoing.
Actually, don’t read the above. It’s terrible. Instead, read the synopsis at Wikipedia#Does_a_Duck.27s_Quack_Echo.3F “Duck’s Quack episode of MythBusters”)
By the way, what does “ETA” stand for? (Besides “Estimated Time of Arrival”, or the Basque paramilitary group.) I can discern from context that it denotes a later edit, but what do the letters actually mean?
Just how off-topic does something need to be in order to post it here? Do we get extra credit for things that are more off-topic?
XKCD
Hey, did you know that a duck’s quack doesn’t echo?
http://thomblake.mp A site with links to my web places—get yours at chi.mp
Singularity; Artificial General Intelligence; Coherent Extrapolated Volition!
Do I win yet?
ETA: Hey, why are people upvoting / downvoting all my stuffs? Please comment nine times to explain!
ETA2: Hey look a lolcat
I strongly suspect that’s an urban legend, and I think I remember reading a debunking somewhere.
They actually did this one on Mythbusters. As it turns out, a duck’s quack has an odd waveform that tends to cancel itself out better than a lot of other sounds. What actually happens is that an echoing quack sounds just about like a non-echoing quack—that is, a duck’s quack sounds like it’s echoing even when it isn’t, so if you’re familiar with what ducks sound like, you won’t notice it echoing.
Actually, don’t read the above. It’s terrible. Instead, read the synopsis at Wikipedia#Does_a_Duck.27s_Quack_Echo.3F “Duck’s Quack episode of MythBusters”)
Yes, CronoDAS, it’s a modern myth. Physicists haven’t missed an obvious way in which their understanding fails to predict the world.
Well, at least not involving that particular obvious way.
By the way, what does “ETA” stand for? (Besides “Estimated Time of Arrival”, or the Basque paramilitary group.) I can discern from context that it denotes a later edit, but what do the letters actually mean?
Have added this to the wiki :-)
Edited To Add =)
“Edited To Add”