the.com/sonar
the bat invented it sixty million years before the navy filed a patent
means A system that uses sound waves bounced off objects to detect and locate things underwater, like submarines, fish, or the seafloor.
from An acronym, coined during World War II, from SOund Navigation And Ranging — modeled on the earlier 'radar' (radio detection and ranging). The British had their own wartime term, ASDIC, but the American 'sonar' won the linguistic war and stuck.
- origin
- developed seriously to hunt submarines in WWI
- whale weapon
- sperm whales emit clicks that can stun prey
- echolocation
- some blind humans navigate by clicking their tongues
- deep reach
- sound travels miles farther underwater than light
- loud death
- naval sonar has been linked to whale strandings
titanic wreck discovery — located 3,843 meters deep in atlantic ocean, found 1985 using sonar imaging
aphid echolocation — some aphids use simple sonar-like clicks to detect predators, studied in recent decades
doppler weather radar — uses sonar principles to detect precipitation and storms across united states since 1950s