

Human: Can you explain how sonar works?

Assistant: 
Well, sonar is a system for detecting objects by bouncing high-frequency sound waves off of them.  It’s similar to how bats “see” with echolocation, except sonar is non-directional and instead uses long bursts of sound waves instead of only one sound wave, and because it is reflected off of its target instead of relying on receiving echoes in the same way that bats “see” things.  Can you tell me more about why you’re interested in sonar?
A few decades ago, we didn’t really understand how animals did this.  Many scientists believed that their sense of sound must have been based on their understanding of vibrations, so they wondered if maybe it could be replicated by shooting an object at a target.  