Otherworldly Voices:2 – Your Martian Voice!

 

 

Standing outside on Mars with a view to taking a refreshing breath of fresh freezing cold Martian air whilst chatting about the stupendous view of neighbouring planet Jupiter might leave you wishing your body contained something else other than blood – seeing as it would repay you for the ill-thought up idea of going outside without a space suit by boiling you to death. You wouldn’t have too much time to converse about the dumb-founding beauty of the view of Jupiter as having been dumb enough to go outside in the first place and boil your blood you won’t last a matter of seconds anyway. This slightly pressing problem might possibly give you the completely understandable desire to have a good old scream before you die but even that isn’t going to go to plan. Nobody will hear you. Not least because most people wouldn’t be dumb enough to go outside on the Red Planet in the first place. But also, because the Martian atmosphere consists almost completely of carbon ­dioxide – 95% to be precise, and it does an awesome job of absorbing vibrations – such as those produced by your vocal cords. So, not only is screaming a waste of the precious time you have left, but if you thought you could accompany your ill-fated visit for fresh air on Mars with the ear-shattering sounds of your favourite music blasting out of that old ghetto blaster you brought with you from Earth – luck’s out. Krank up that volume all you like (but be quick – remember you have only seconds to live!) but it will still be little more than a distant tinkle of sound when you’re 10 metres away. Should you wish to sing along to it, the Martian air slows sound waves down to such an extent that you will produce nothing more than a hoarse, deep-toned croak.