The Loudest Sound

On August 27, 1883, the volcano Krakatoa blew apart in the Sunda Strait, between Java and Sumatra. The blast is the loudest sound in recorded human history.

Sailors 40 miles away had their eardrums ruptured by the shock. The boom was clearly heard 3,000 miles away on Rodrigues Island in the Indian Ocean. To picture that distance, imagine an explosion in New York heard plainly in Los Angeles. Past about 100 miles, most sounds fade into silence. Krakatoa kept going, and going, until the sound had crossed roughly a thirteenth of the planet.