ｒａｄｉｏ🚱Jan 29, 2022
aster 
looked up “how do car horns work” because I was curious and one of the related questions is “do car horns run out of honk” which is endlessly hilarious to me
Jan 29, 2022 at 6:20amWeb
Show threadaster Jan 29, 2022

to those wondering: contemporary car horns
don’t because they’re electric (it’s one of those things where a circuit rapidly switching on and off through a spring-like mechanism creates vibrations in a metal drum which create sound). so long as the battery has charge and the mechanism doesn’t break, they can honk endlessly!

air horns are a different story but most cars don’t have those

Show threadaster Jan 29, 2022

if you have an air horn with a good compressor it can also run indefinitely in principle from what I’m gathering (subject to power and air availability)

it’s hard to find info on this one because I don’t think anyone wants to honk an air horn continuously because they are Very Loud

Show thread^,,^ Jan 29, 2022
@variance I think the air allows them to be very loud with relatively cheap components (since car batteries have relatively low peak power and the alternative would be lithium batteries or supercapacitors), so they probably will only run at full power for a short bit
Show threadvarveJan 29, 2022

@variance "so long as the battery has charge" is the key there...

I seem to recall that the first car alarms didn't shut themselves off after a certain number of alarm cycles, but would just honk the horn and flash the lights until the battery died. So they would definitely "run out of honk."

Didn't take all that long for the next versions of car alarms to have a self-shutoff.

Show threadOwlsJan 29, 2022
@variance ...do they?
Show threadaster Jan 29, 2022
@candlebrae contemporary ones don’t because they’re electric (it’s one of those things where a circuit rapidly switching on and off through a spring-like mechanism creates vibrations in a metal drum which create sound). so long as the battery has charge and the mechanism doesn’t break, they can honk endlessly!
Show threadOwlsJan 29, 2022
@variance Huh, makes sense! What about non-contemporary ones?
Show threadaster Jan 29, 2022

@candlebrae the old ones were basically like those toy horns with bulbs of air that you squeeze which make a sound when you squeeze them but can’t do so for long bc you need to stop and let the bulb fill back up with air again

also some vehicles (eg construction trucks) use air horns (which pump compressed air through a horn) but there’s noise regulations on those bc they’re extremely loud

Show thread👻™ Enthusiastic Goblin 🐊🌩️Jan 29, 2022
@variance Well, considering that air horns DO run out of honk, I can see why someone would ask this
Show threadaster Jan 29, 2022
@witchfynder_finder oh yeah I’m def not judging the question! just the phrasing is v funny to me
Show thread👻™ Enthusiastic Goblin 🐊🌩️Jan 29, 2022
@variance Oh yeah absolutely, I'm gonna be giggling about "run out of honk" for a minute
Show threadRobertJan 29, 2022
@witchfynder_finder @variance potassium hydroxynitrene (HONK) is quite dangerous to manufacture
Show threadDaniel BohrerJan 29, 2022

@witchfynder_finder @variance now I have to image what a Smart Car Horn would display

ERROR 17: REFILL HONK

Show threadRockarioJan 29, 2022
@variance it's a good question!
Show threadaster Jan 29, 2022
@rockario definitely! the phrasing is just delightful to me
Show threadDan moved, see pinned tootJan 29, 2022

@variance Work-experience lad wheeling over a barrel of honk on a dolly, got the transfer hoses slung over his shoulder, he's distracted; the dolly tips, the barrel goes over, hits on the seal and the honk is escaping, hooooooooooonk.

"BLOODY HELL, LEG IT!" cries the mechanic, everybody legs it, they just manage to get out of the blast radius and cover their ears before the tank ruptures with one mighty HONK. Windows in the building across the street shatter.

Then the horny geese show up.

Show threadmhoyeJan 29, 2022
@variance I love the idea that you’d need to get your honk topped up every few hundred k.
Show threadmhoyeJan 29, 2022
@variance “topping up my honk” is my new favourite sentence.
Show threadphryk 🏴Jan 29, 2022

@variance The question whether horns run out of honk has been on my mind a lot when I was a kid.

When I learned that they actually *don't* run out of honk, I was relieved because that made having a horn for myself much more realistic.

These days I don't want a car horn anymore – I want a fog horn. I guess that's some form of growing up?