Have you ever wondered how the loud explosion sound is made
when a plane passes?
Well A sonic boom is caused by shock waves
of objects that move faster than the speed of sound, they kinda sound like
explosions. When a plane or an object travels through the air it makes waves in
front and behind the object. The waves move at the speed of sound, sound
travels differently through materials. It also depends on the altitude and
temperature.
When an airplane is speeding up the
waves can't move away from each other and build up. (you don't always need a
airplane but they are a much better example) Finally they will make a single
wave at the speed of sound. When we hear a sonic boom most of the time there
are two booms, the first one is the front of the plane reaching the sound that
disrupts the waves and the second boom is the tail of the plane reaching the
same point.
If the object continues to move at
that speed it will make a continuous sonic boom some call ¨Boom Carpet¨.
Everybody below the object's path will hear the sonic boom or the continuous
one. People on the ground are able to hear the boom but the people in a plane
can't hear it. The reason is because the waves unroll behind the plane causing
the people to pass the sonic boom before it goes they can hear it.
The most interesting part about this
topic is that the object has to move so fast. Most of the time you can see a
plane fly through the air but if it is going the speed of sound you can't see
the plane all you can do is hear it. Simply amazing that it moves so fast by
the time you look up it is so far out of view you have no chance to see it.
Some of the necessities are going at least 767 miles per hour. Chuck Yeager was
the first person to ever break the sound barrier on October 14, 1947. Whips can
also break the sound barrier, and they aren't even close to the same size as a
plane.
