So waveforms can contain a lot of useful information for someone who's trained to interpret them, once there's a reliable catalog of waveforms associated with specific sounds, of course - in this case, different kinds of gunshots at different ranges and angles. They've combined those findings with visual evidence (photographs of gunshots) to develop more accurate waveform models for forensic audio analysis of actual gunshot events.Ī waveform is a kind of acoustic signature of a given sound. Okay, granted, nobody's done a bona fide study on sci-fi blasters, but acousticians Steven Beck (BAE Systems in Austin, Texas) and the FBI's own Hirotaka Nakasone have collaborated on a number of studies of gunshot recordings of various types of firearms, wit microphones placed in many different configurations and angles relative to the gun being tested. (Think the redemption of Spike in Buffy the Vampire Slayer for a similar character arc.) You don't mess with the Star Wars canon, people - even if your name is George Lucas.īut what if you were a cantina patron whose view of the table where Han and Greedo was sitting was blocked? When the authorities asked for your account of the shooting, how much could you really tell them about what happened, when you only heard the blaster shot? You might be able to tell them quite a bit, actually assuming you'd boned up on the latest acoustics research on gunshot forensics. In the modified scene, Greedo fires first, missing Han Solo despite the point blank range (Greedo is a pretty horrible shot for a bounty hunter), and Han only fires and kills Greedo in retaliation.Īpparently Lucas didn't want there to be any moral ambiguity whatsoever surrounding Solo's ultimately heroic character - but that ambiguity has always been a big part of the character's charm. (Pic below via Mental Floss.)Įxcept fans were outraged when director George Lucas modified the scene for the film's re-release in 1997. In the original theatrical release, Greedo says, "Ive been looking forward to this for a long time," and Han replies, "Yes, I'll bet you have." He then blows Greedo away before the bounty hunter manages to take his shot. Greedo has his blaster pointed at Han, who, as they chat, positions his own blaster beneath the table. The two - well, one man, one strange-looking alien - sit across from each other. Greedo is there to collect on behalf of Jabba the Hut, who wants payment for a load of smuggled cargo that Han dumped to avoid getting caught. Han meets bounty hunter Greedo at the Mos Eisley Cantina.
And now, thanks to advances in the acoustics of gunshot forensics described at last week's Acoustical Society of America conference, those in the " Han Shot First" camp - and Jen-Luc Piquant reminds you that there is no other acceptable answer - can bring in the mighty fists of science to make an even stronger case. Fans have engaged in heated online debates, signed petitions, and broken off budding friendships over this pressing issue.
It's a popular bit of geek trivia, referring to a classic scene in what is now known as Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. In fact, hydrophones, or underwater microphones, if placed at the proper depth, can pick up whale songs and manmade noises from many kilometers away.Who shot first, Han Solo or Greedo? If you're a diehard Star Wars fan, you know the answer is Han Solo. The area in the ocean where sound waves refract up and down is known as the "sound channel." The channeling of sound waves allows sound to travel thousands of miles without the signal losing considerable energy. This causes the speed of sound to increase and makes the sound waves refract upward. Below the thermocline "layer," the temperature remains constant, but pressure continues to increase.
The thermocline is a region characterized by rapid change in temperature and pressure which occurs at different depths around the world. Once the sound waves reach the bottom of what is known as the thermocline layer, the speed of sound reaches its minimum. As the whale’s sound waves travel through the water, their speed decreases with increasing depth (as the temperature drops), causing the sound waves to refract downward. The whale produces sound waves that move like ripples in the water. Imagine a whale is swimming through the ocean and calls out to its pod. These factors have a curious effect on how (and how far) sound waves travel. While pressure continues to increase as ocean depth increases, the temperature of the ocean only decreases up to a certain point, after which it remains relatively stable. While sound moves at a much faster speed in the water than in air, the distance that sound waves travel is primarily dependent upon ocean temperature and pressure.
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