How far away can you hear explosions?

[Desiderata]

I've heard distant explosions while out for a walk tonight. We're fairly remote so it's pretty quiet here anytime, but very quiet after 10 pm. The noises I've heard sound like distant artillery fire but the nearest place I can think that it might possibly be is an army range about 40 miles away as the crow flies. Is it possible to hear something that far away?

[Mr E]

Depends how loud it was?

The 3rd explosion in 1883 was heard 3000 miles away.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1883_eruption_of_K...

[Hill92]

Large artillery barrages on the Western Front could be heard in London.

https://simonjoneshistorian.com/2017/04/19/the-big...

Atmospheric conditions will affect how far sound travels.

[WelshRich]

Supposedly, this was heard as far away as Geneva…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Fauld_explosion

[Skeptisk]

Depends how you define explosion and hear. We now have gravity wave detectors that can pick up mergers of black holes from millions or light years away.

[Mabbs9]

I recall the Buncefield explosion. My whole house shook over 30miles away.

[Desiderata]

Well I've checked the news sites this morning, nothing interesting, and checked the MOD information site and there was live firing scheduled for lat night so I expect that is where it was coming from. Thanks for your replies.

[Nemophilist]

Mabbs9 said:

I recall the Buncefield explosion. My whole house shook over 30miles away.

My family heard it about 25 miles away too.

‘’Because of an inversion layer, the explosions were heard up to 125 miles (200 km) away; there were reports that they were audible in Belgium, France, and the Netherlands. It registered 2.4 on the Richter scale’’

[Collectingbrass]

Nemophilist said:

Mabbs9 said:

I recall the Buncefield explosion. My whole house shook over 30miles away.

My family heard it about 25 miles away too.

‘’Because of an inversion layer, the explosions were heard up to 125 miles (200 km) away; there were reports that they were audible in Belgium, France, and the Netherlands. It registered 2.4 on the Richter scale’’

I was 700 yards away, I definitely heard it.

[Simpo Two]

Mabbs9 said:

I recall the Buncefield explosion. My whole house shook over 30miles away.

Famously announced on PH as 'WTF was that?'

[Panamax]

Yes, we heard quite a wallop at 40 miles away.

Explosion was the equivalent of 30 tons of TNT which is roughly equivalent to a thermobaric (fuel/air) bomb. It caused some damage up to a distance of five miles.

[Monkeylegend]

I can hear my cat and one of my dogs using the cat flap at night through two closed doors from a distance of about 20 feet

Good job I can because the dog can get out but gets stuck half in half out trying to get back in again, usually about 5 am.

[Scarletpimpofnel]

WelshRich said:

Supposedly, this was heard as far away as Geneva…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Fauld_explosion

Some of the debris may well still be in orbit -

[Collectingbrass]

Panamax said:

Yes, we heard quite a wallop at 40 miles away.

Explosion was the equivalent of 30 tons of TNT which is roughly equivalent to a thermobaric (fuel/air) bomb. It caused some damage up to a distance of five miles.

Well it basically was.

[Eric Mc]

My mother said that they could here the Luftwaffe bombs exploding in Liverpoll from Dublin. They could see the glow of the fires and the searchlights as well.

[Nemophilist]

Panamax said:

Yes, we heard quite a wallop at 40 miles away.

Explosion was the equivalent of 30 tons of TNT which is roughly equivalent to a thermobaric (fuel/air) bomb. It caused some damage up to a distance of five miles.

The company office where I work is less then half a mile from Buncefield and would have been built on the site of one of the destroyed buildings.
When we moved in we were informed that anything within a certain radius of the oil terminal is ok to be in day to day, but overnight sleeping isnt allowed and is why when a hospital was built on the site, it only allows day patients.

I'm not too sure how it's now allowed, but a housing estate behind the industrial units is currently being built.
I don't think I would want to live somewhere so close.

[kurokawa]

can we use inverse square law?
assuming in an ideal open free field
a measure 150 dB at 1m radius
At 64km from source the sound pressure would be around 54 dB
of cause in reality there are many factors that would affect the propagation of sound wave such as density, temperature, motion of the medium etc.

[STe_rsv4]

Mabbs9 said:

I recall the Buncefield explosion. My whole house shook over 30miles away.

So what's your new postcode now?

[tog]

Desiderata said:

Well I've checked the news sites this morning, nothing interesting, and checked the MOD information site and there was live firing scheduled for lat night so I expect that is where it was coming from. Thanks for your replies.

I routinely hear artillery on Salisbury Plain, sometimes quite loudly, and that's over 25 miles or so from me (not sure exactly where the ranges are on the plain). As said it is weather dependent. Low cloud and not too windy makes it travel further and louder.

[Beati Dogu]

We used to hear the French Concorde’s sonic boom from east Devon. It was presumably over the Bay of Biscay on its way to Rio.