• Khrux@ttrpg.network
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    58
    ·
    1 year ago

    Fun fact, sperm whales can generate a sonar click at 230dB. Decibels are a logarithmic scale so increasing by only a few dB is basically double the volume.

    A sperm whale may swim past you, think you’re interesting and give a little click to scan you, and basically stun or kill you instantly.

    • Agent_Engelbert@linux.community
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      13
      ·
      1 year ago

      Wow. For real ???

      You learn something new everyday.

      But yeah, I never saw divers getting stunned/ killed even when diving near whales.

      It could be that it never happened, but that’s like such a high variance to have never happened.

    • force@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      11
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      i believe it’s 6 dB is 2x the sound pressure and 10 dB is 2x the perceived volume?

      • Khrux@ttrpg.network
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        12
        ·
        1 year ago

        I couldn’t find any report of a death but here is a credible source that it’s possible. Sperm whales are particularly rare of course, and intelligent enough to probably know it’s deadly, so it’s no surprise it’s rare.