Why Can't Astronauts Whistle in Space?

Now I'm not talking about whistling in a vacuum. It's obvious that attempting to do so would fail. But even astronauts on spacewalks in protective suits can't whistle. Why not? Former astronaut Dan Barry explained:

"You can't whistle because the air pressure in the suit is only 4.3 [pounds per square inch], and normal atmospheric pressure is 14.7 psi, so there are not enough air molecules blowing by your lips to make a sound," he said.[...]

Jeff Hoffman, a retired astronaut with three spacewalks (including a mission to repair the Hubble telescope) has traveled 21.5 million miles in space. He said the technicians who trained him on spacewalks had told him that he wouldn't be able to whistle, but he says he tried anyway.

"I couldn't get one note out," he said.


Link -via First Things | Photo: NASA

So, they can't whistle in their space suits for the same reason they can't scream in their space suits? Wow, okay.

I've said this before but I'm done with neatorama and this time I'm going to make a conscious effort to stop visiting. I don't know what happened over the last year but there has been constant bs, unchecked opinions or irrelevant expansions of generally known facts.

Oh, and has anyone else noticed the factless politics creeping in here? http://www.neatorama.com/2011/07/12/tea-party-to-save-the-incandescent-light-bulb/ I thought one of neatoramas pledges was to exclude political opinions.

If a student was in science class and asked "So, you can't hear them scream in space but can you hear them whistle?" they would most likely get a smart ass remark for their smart ass question.

I encourage others to do the same and check back in a month to see if they get the point.

This used to be the first sight I checked when I got online, now it's 6th or 7th because of crap like this.

Bring back the ability to vote for submitted links because y'all suck at it!
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MAc: have you even bother to read the damn article? the alien quote about screaming in space is because vacuum does not transmit sound.. This is about whistle IN a space suit, where if you would scream Houston would know there is a problem... but you cant whistle...
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