Can opera music shatter car windows?

[pdxmike]

Yesterday I was driving up to a meeting in Seattle, listening to some music.  Had the volume up pretty high because of road noise from high speed and pouring rain.  All of a sudden, I heard an explosion.  My first thought was that something fell out of the sky and hit my roof.  It sounded like someone had smashed an aquarium with a sledgehammer.  I stopped on the shoulder and went around to the back of my car, and saw that the whole rear side window (large on my Honda Element) was completely shattered, with half the glass gone. 

My first thought was that the window got hit with a rock shooting out from a truck tire.  But I've had that happen dozens of times on the windshield and never had more than a chip at worst.  Plus, this would have had to shoot sideways from a tire, instead of straight back--not even sure if that's possible.  And the glass blew out, not in.  Granted, the side windows are vertical, so a rock would be less able to glance off as it would on a slanted windshield. 

My next thought was it got shot from a pellet gun, but there was nothing inside the car, and no reason why that would happen.  Plus, I've seen that before, and it makes a hole rather than shattering the whole window.  Also, that would be more likely to happen on the passenger-side window.  And again, the glass fell outside the car instead of into it. 

But the weird thing was that the shattering coincided with the end of an opera song--Habanera from Bizet's Carmen.  And it was at the end, right about at the highest, loudest note.   Weird, but no weirder than last month when I was walking the dog and a squirrel fell out of a tree and landed in the dog's mouth, and on National Squirrel Appreciation Day at that.   

So, my most likely explanation seems to be that opera music shattered my window.  Could that be true?  From what I've read so far, it seems unlikely but possible.

Here's the song--shattering happened at high note, third from end, at about 3:40 to 3:43:



 I figured if anyone would know, it would be someone on standupzone.  My apologies if this topic has been discussed before.

[blueplanetsurf]

Sorry pdx,
I'm not going to play that video, don't want my computer screen to shatter.

[ObviousSup]

Um.. How big is the sub you have in the back?


Looking online it seems that you aren't the only person that has had this happen. Apparently slight errors in the installation can create stresses that will break the window.

http://www.elementownersclub.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-3896.html
 

[PonoBill]

No idea, but Elina is pretty damned hot for an opera babe.

[pdxmike]

Obvious--thanks for the links.  And no subwoofer, just basic factory speakers.

Bill--she's Latvian.  If you like her in in that video, just imagine her saying "Big trouble for moose and squirrel".   

[Easy Rider]

For the windshield to side window comparison - windshields are 2 layers of glass with plastic laminated between them - side and back windows are safety glass - designed to break into small "un sharp" pieces.

Windshields are much stronger and are an integral part of the support of the roof. 

(I know this because I have had to use the heal of my hand 27 times to smash the windshield of an upside down rally car that I was in).

For those that will wonder it was after these few seconds. 

[H2Oman]

Seems unlikely that the music would break your windshield...but who knows.

I worked on this commercial a while back and the flute really did break, however they had to do lots of test to find a brand of crystal flutes that would actually break at the correct frequency.   Your windshield is much stronger.

2010 Lexus Commercial: "Pitch"