2006-07-29 19:27:18 · 17 answers · asked by William M 1 in Travel ➔ Air Travel
like thunder you first see light after hear the sound.
because the speed of the light faster than sound.
2006-07-29 21:18:13 · answer #1 · answered by mahsa 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The reason depends on how fast the airplane is traveling. If it is exceeding the speed of sound, i.e. faster than Mach 1, then the sound that the plane makes is lagging behind. That will almost always happen exclusively with fighter and supersonic commercial jets. If you see a jumbo jet, like a Boeing 777, 747, etc, and you haven't heard it yet, you see it before you hear it because the photons that are bouncing off the plane, which travel at roughly 186,000 mph, have already reached your eyes. Sound travels at around 1,000 mph (I think), so it takes significanly longer for the sound waves to reach your ears.
2006-07-30 06:14:52 · answer #2 · answered by Robert B 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Light travels faster than sound. The sun reflects off of the plane into your eyes causing the image of the plane to be seen, while the sound takes a while to catch up. Also interesting, with rainbows, the light is bent inside of tiny water droplets in the atmosphere and is directed toward your eyes. This causes a your eyes to process a picture of a rainbow. A rainbow is also a full circle, it's just that it's so large that you can only see a portion of it that looks like an arc.
2006-07-29 19:37:51 · answer #3 · answered by silverjacket9 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because light (the image of the plane) travels so much faster than sound (the noise of the plane).
You could even measure the time span between the two and calculate how far the plane is above you. The same thing can be done with lightning and thunder.
2006-07-29 19:32:48 · answer #4 · answered by Hi y´all ! 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sound needs a medium 2 travel so u hear the plane later
2006-07-29 19:31:09 · answer #5 · answered by Neha S 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Light travels at about 186,000 miles per second.
Sound travels at about 1,100 FEET per second through air at sea level at 70 degrees Fahrenheit (5,280 feet to a mile).
Do the math.
The sight of the plane reaches you almost instantly while the sound of the airplane reaches you in a few seconds for every mile away.
2006-07-29 19:35:40 · answer #6 · answered by brightpool 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Most people hear a plane first because they just do not see it first, usually because they are not actively looking for it.
I have heard many planes from my window but it is likely that I may never see those planes.
2006-07-29 19:36:19 · answer #7 · answered by presidentrichardnixon 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You can see the plane because of light, Reflection & Refraction. Light obviously moves ALOT faster then sound.
2006-07-29 19:32:02 · answer #8 · answered by badgerman 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because the speed of light is faster that the speed of sound, this is the same principle, why we see the lightning before we hear the thunder.
2006-07-29 19:30:37 · answer #9 · answered by esmefort 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Light travels 186,282 miles-per-second in a vacuum, while sound travels 1086 feet-per-second at sea level. As you can easily see, there is no contest in a race between what you see and what you hear.
2006-07-29 19:33:39 · answer #10 · answered by miyuki & kyojin 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋