Why Does A Frozen Lake Sound Like A Star Wars Blaster?

NPR's Skunk Bear YouTube

This winter brings the most recent installment of the Star Wars franchise, filled with acquainted costumes, acquainted villains, and the acquainted "pew pew pew" of area weapons. However you possibly can skip the film theatre and nonetheless hear these iconic blaster sounds in the event you go to a frozen lake.

Cory Williams found this pure phenomenon again in 2014, when he moved from California to Alaska. He tried skipping rocks throughout the icy floor of Edmonds Lake, simply up the highway from Anchorage. His YouTube video of the area age twanging that ensued was considered 11 million occasions.

This yr, Williams returned to Edmonds Lake and made one other discovery. The lake was singing by itself. Why? And the way? The newest video from Skunk Bear, NPR's science youtube channel, reveals the origin of that iconic sci-fi sound impact and explains why it may be heard yearly within the frigid wilds.

Received your individual science-y questions for us? Use this kind to ship them our method. We'll do our greatest to reply on Skunk Bear's YouTube channel.

You possibly can observe Cory Williams' Alaskan adventures on his YouTube channel, LiveEachDay.