Phonosynthesis - ecosystem where "plants" extract energy from sound, not light

I have an idea about a planet that is cold and dark, but very loud. Constant rolling storms, crashing glaciers and icesheets, earthquakes, volcanoes and so on.

Instead of photosynthetic plants, as on Earth, I was considering whether it would be plausible to have some sort of phoNosynthetic life, i.e. an organism that can convert sound energy into chemical energy.

This is basically a chemistry question then. Is it conceivable that there could be a process where this would work? Are there existing chemical processes that are known that use sound waves to store energy? If so, what sort of sound are we talking about? Ultrasound? Infrasound? Could a planet actually remain that consistently loud without eventually calming down?

posted over 7 years ago

Tom O'Daighre‭

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