The World's Contentious Mobile Convection Oven

A General Electric ES44AC diesel electric locomotive in Notch 1 begins at 450 revolutions per minute.  Whether it is a GEVO or 7FDL twelve or sixteen cylinder prime mover, both are turbo-charged four stroke engines which at full load turn at 1050 r.p.m.'s.  At idle (450 r.p.m.'s) the rotating crank shaft acting as a mechanical oscillator produces a 7.5 Hertz infrasound wave which audibly cannot be heard.  This figure is deduced simply by dividing the engines revolutions per minute by the sixty seconds found in a minute.  Cycles per second is the designation for Hertz, the typical measurement of wave frequency, in this case for sound.  Infrasound like ultrasound is an extreme designation for sound meaning it is so low in frequency it cannot be heard by the human ear.  Typically humans can hear down to 20 Hertz, so logically we can hear both the low E and the fifth string low B on an electric bass.  Their respective frequencies are 41 and 30 Hertz.  Humans cannot hear a 7.5 Hertz infrasound wave produced by all idling diesel/electric locomotives, but do we perceive them?  The answer is yes, and like the experience at a rock concert the reason why we are effected by the music is because not only do we hear it with our ears, we feel it with our bodies.  While the definition of the term otoacoustic has changed significantly during the last two decades, once is was used to define how we hear with mechanisms other than our ears.  It has been proven that unborn babies respond to sound in the womb.  That is because our bodies can perceive sound in many ways, most often through our tactile receptors.  We hear with our skin.  Because human activity is both chemical and electrical and is carried in waves, sound may be the most effective vehicle for carrying emotion.  That is opening Pandora's Box, and Mr. Stravinsky would disagree.  In my experience as a doctoral level composer, fully I believe the feelings we may actualize through music composition may be carried directly to the listener through this complex interacting system of perception.  Because music at its most effective level merely moves air, and Beethoven said music is the breath of God, I believe this to be true.  As human beings were are graced with the ability to perceive this nuances of sound.  The trouble is the infrasonic region of sound in particular is problematic.  First we cannot hear it, which makes it invisible.  If we cannot hear sound how do we know it is happening?  The answer is there are all kinds of litmus tests that confirm we are perceiving infrasound.  Unfortunately again they turn out to be negative.  Low frequency sound has been determined over the years to be harmful to human beings.  It is akin to the sounds produced from natural disasters such as earthquakes, tornadoes, and burning wild fires.  The easiest way to personify infrasound is to imagine the reaction primitive man would have to the looming footsteps of a dinosaur.  Infrasound creates a plethora of tangible human responses which largely are ignored today because they are invisible.  Industry has slipped under the radar and proliferated along with their massive output of infrasonic pollution.  With simple mathematics it is easy to discern that a diesel/electric locomotive at idle, that being 450 revolutions per minutes, a 45,000 pound four stoke turbo-charged twelve or sixteen cylinder prime mover creates a 7.5 Hz infrasonic wave which never subsides.  When the engine is engaged as the operator moves the throttle up in notches, the r.p.m.'s increase to 1050.  This is when 4,500 horsepower is produced by the locomotive's onboard electrical system.  1050 divided by sixty seconds in a minute is 17.5, a frequency that is at just the threshold of human hearing.  In one instance as the locomotive sits unused, like they often do in switching yards waiting for personnel changes or the next shift, it is creating a sound wave that is more capable then the lowest strings of a bass guitar at a rock concert.  The question is what is its amplitude?  The conundrum of locomotive building is that an engine is useless unless it is running.  When it runs it runs continuously unlike the notes played in a rock song.  It runs continuously.  Again with simple mathematics or physics it is easy to calculate that a 7.5 Hertz low frequency sound wave is longer than the 112 feet of a 10 Hz tone.  This is the lowest conversion I could find easily on the web.  Let's assume that it is 130 feet.  For the soundwave to complete itself, that is to be perceived in some way by the receptors of the human being, one would have to be at least 130 feet away.  This is good news for locomotive operators, and it is one reason why you will find little discussion by them on the ill effects of their trade.  Not unlike the cruise industry employees often are not affected by their own ship.  More likely they are affected by surrounding vessels operating in close or relative proximity.  When one is cruising solo, meaning there are no other ships in sight, it is a comfortable and relaxing situation.  As soon as other vessels come into view, a value similar to the body's tactile receptors, we begin to perceive their presence the way we will perceive that of a locomotive.  We can't hear them, but we will sense them.  We will sense them in the ways that have been determined over the years, most notably by French Scientist Vladimir Gavreau.  The nature of the diesel is that is produces sound wholly that is unlike any other sounds in the universe except those of nature.  The droning of a waterfall, the crashing of waves, the rumble of a volcano.  These can be frightening events because the sound is ominous, relentless, and non stopping.  Every second an idling diesel/electric locomotive outputs a 7.5 Hz sound wave with a frequency say of 130 feet.  Each repetition of this wave sums itself on the previous wave and they continue to sum proportionately ad nauseam.  If the amplitude of the original wave is nominal, which probably it is and which is why operators rarely complain about their jobs, the amplitude of this infrasound wave continues to increase as it travels seemingly infinitely.  It has been recorded that infrasound waves from natural phenomena will circle the glove five times.  Rest assured that for each locomotive in operation in the world, and GE alone brags about their 30,000 ES44AC's, each machine is producing an infrasound wave that is traveling long distances and carrying massive air pressure, the kind of pressure that cannot be rivaled by the loudest rock band in existence.  It is almost impossible to imagine such a scenario and yet it exists.  It largely is what is creating Global  Warming.  The burning of fossil fuels, and certainly the diesel/electric locomotive falls into that catagory burning diesel for its combustion, is a large part of Global Warming, but sound waves capable of moving air around the world are escalating the problem.  How else could warm air be reaching the poles?  It is because warm air is being pumped through them like like a giant convection oven, and that oven is diesel/electric prime movers.