Was the Big Bang loud?

My first impression is no, because sound waves need matter to vibrate in order to make any noise, but I can ask my Dad to make sure. He's as old as the universe itself. I'll have to ask him three times, though, because HIS HEARING"S NOT SO GOOD!

As the others said, it probably wasn't loud. Sound needs a medium to vibrate in, and the vast vacuum of space isn't it. Also, the big bang created things like the laws of physics and sound (weird, but true!) within the first microseconds of the bang. So sound (or at least the physics of travelling sound) wouldn't even have existed yet.

I'll leave you with a philosophy question:

If no one was around to hear the big bang, did it make a sound? :p Maybe! But I wasn't around to hear it yet, and nobody was.

There is still a debate over who was the most popular of the big bangs, but many had their own favorites, like Glen Miller and Count Basie. During the big bang era of the late 30's and the 1940's, people would flock to halls all over the country to dance to the loud sounds they made. You can still get the recordings, and - if you turn the volume way up - they're still very loud. Hope that helps! ;~)

You would have to ask God or Goddess in their various incarnations, whichever of them happened to be around at the time to create it. Perhaps Shiva clapped his hands, or Shakti got angry at him and stamped her foot.

A sun exploding would not make a sound. So I do not think the big bang would be loud. Besides needing air to transmit the sound waves you would also need ears to hear the sound or it is just a vibration.

It was sooooo loud, it broke all the sound barriers and deafened all within hearing distance. And it was sooooooo bright, that it blinded all within seeing distance. And the shockwaves were sooooo powerful, it pushed all the galaxies across the known universe. That is why there is no one left around here to tell us how loud, how bright and how powerful it really was. All our neighbors were blown into the next galaxy and they can't hear, see or communicate with our poor, little lonely planet anymore.

Thanks for all the great answers, though I have to admit, the vacuum topic and the "embedded bias" point mentioned did cause me to get another cup of coffee and reconsider the Big Bang might have been a silent, but deadly "universal whiff".

This answer was edited by slimjim270 79 days ago.

Reason: spelling