(PCM) YouTuber Kevin Kohler, who runs the popular channel TheBackyardScientist, recently made an attempt to recreate the ‘Bart Simpson Megaphone Challenge’ which was inspired by a cult favorite episode of the long running FOX animated series “The Simpsons”. Kohler set up 10 megaphones back to back to see just how loud of a sound he could create.
Kohler explained in the video that the idea for the challenge came to him when he was watching “The Simpson” and saw Bart’s prank from the episode titled “The Secret War Of Lisa Simpson” which aired in season 8 of the series. In the episode, Bart puts 10 megaphones back to back and creates a sound so loud that it led to a shock wave that shattered all of the windows in town, including his father Homer’s full fridge of beer.
Everything started off well for Kohler with the test challenge as he collected and lined up all the megaphone, but what he failed to anticipate was any type of feedback loop. He attempted to rearranged the megaphones to tone down some of the feedback and then shouted into the first one. His sound was not that loud and was pretty much the same as using only one megaphone, as the power sources that make up the megaphones were not strong enough to amplify the sound to the level he anticipated. The sound ended up becoming quite distorted.
Not thrilled with the way the experiment turned out the first time, Kohler and his assisant then decided to move the megaphones into a circular shape and finally created the ear-splitting noise they desired. The feedback loop they measured was 16 times louder than your average vacuum cleaner. You can watch their entire ordeal and the outcome in the video below: