system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
What happens to the sound of the rockets that we can hear outside a spaceship when it is in space?

My understanding is that sound is the propagation of a wave through some medium, in this case caused by the vibration of the rocket's combustion, and that energy is always conserved.


Once the shuttle hits space, these vibrations are still present, but the sound energy has nowhere external to go. What happens to it? Does it increase vibrations within the shuttle?
gpt
The sound is a result of the rocket exhaust forcing the air out of its way.  In a vacuum it no longer has to do that, so the efficiency of the rocket will go up, because it's no longer spending energy moving air.