Ask an Explainer

Sound can't be carried in the empty vacuum of space because sound waves need a medium to vibrate through such as air or water. Until recently, we thought that since there is no air in space, that no sound could travel and that is still true but only up to a point. Space isn’t actually completely empty, there are large areas of gas and dust that do have the potential to carry sound waves. However, because the particles are so spread out, the sounds waves they produce are at such a low frequency, humans are incapable of hearing them.