World's Longest Echo

World's Longest Echo

World's Longest Echo

If My Bloody Valentine are reading this, we've found the ideal place to record your next album.

The world record for the longest man-made reverberating echo has been shattered, as an acoustic scientist managed to make a gunshot reverberate for 112 seconds. It destroys the previous record, which was just 15 seconds.

The sound was made by Professor Trevor Cox, Professor of Acoustic Engineering at the University of Salford, in an oil storage tank in Inchindown, near Invergordon in Scotland, while researching his book Sonic Wonderland. The tanks supplied the naval anchorage and were constructed in secrecy in the 1930s ahead of the outbreak of war, being dug deep into a hillside. Trevor had to enter the tank through an 18 inch oil pipe - as the tank had no doors. Some stats for you: the tank is twice the length of a football pitch (the standard unit of length of course), 9m wide, and 13.5m high - it can hold 25.5 million litres of fuel.

But don't take our word for it; you can listen to it below - watch out for some truly excellent Soundcloud comments too.

[via Geekologie]

(Image: Shutterstock)

Marc Chacksfield
Content Director

As Content Director of Shortlist, Marc likes nothing more than to compile endless lists of an evening by candlelight. He started out life as a movie writer for numerous (now defunct) magazines and soon found himself online - editing a gaggle of gadget sites, including TechRadar, Digital Camera World and Tom's Guide UK. At Shortlist you'll find him mostly writing about movies and tech, so no change there then.