Would your craft flip up and cartwheel out of control, or would the surrounding water blow up and you'd come through without a scratch? The reason i am asking is that the water speed record is about 450-500 mph, the next phase of this challenge would be to get as close to the sound barrier or even break it.
2006-09-19 23:58:39 · 10 answers · asked by IshotJR 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
The speed of sound in air is different to the speed of sound in water. sound travels much faster in water than in air, so nothing strange and exciting will happen to the water when you reach the speed of sound in air.
When you are travelling over or on water - you are travelling through the air. Boats at low speeds sink into the water. water is quite heavy and has to be pushed out the way by a vessel travelling through it, So at higher speeds objects tend to skim acros the top - like water skis or when you skim a pebble across a pond.
If you were approaching the speed of sound (in air) - the vehicle you were in would be skimming along the top - not sinking in at all.
You would need a very flat piece of water, just as you need flat land for land speed attempts. Even slight ripples in the water could cause vibrations or movement that would unstabilise the vessel and cause it to flip or disintigrate.
Achieving incredibly flat water is THE main problem facing any water speed records.
People around you above the water will hear a sonic boom, but anybody under the water wouldn't - as you won't be travelling faster than the speed of sound within water. However the sound will travel through the water faster than you are travellling alert those in front of you that you are comming, so there is a very high chance of being attacked by sea-monsters
2006-09-20 02:13:09 · answer #1 · answered by Iain M 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
well, most speed boats break the sound barrier already, by going faster than the speed of waves in water (which is quite a low speed). When this happens they start planing over their front wave.
Given the densitiy of water, this is by far a more troublesome event, than breaking through the sound barrier of air, a might lighter medium.
The reason why the water speed record is so low, compared to the ground speed record, is that no one found water smooth enough to be able to safely maintain higher speeds. At 500mph even a fairly small wavelet can mean death.
It is not impossible that one day we'll be able to design supercavitating foils that could carry a boat, whose material would withstand the efforts of going at speeds of several mph in water (not to mention potential shocks with small objects in the water). Not impossible but it will be very difficult, and not sure there would be enough interest from people with deep enough pockets to fund this (for example for the Navy, going just 60 or 70mph on the water is probably considered enough, and they've easily got boats that can do that, and hovercrafts can do more).
Hope this helps
a
2006-09-20 10:08:17 · answer #2 · answered by AntoineBachmann 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Depends on your craft! (Boat or Air-craft!)
In both cases, you will create a sonic "bang" wave, which is the interference between sound waves themselves that HAS an effect on objects at close proximity.
The water hit by the bang will probably react in "jumping" high like a geiser, but this will be behind you.
Your craft must have been engineered to sustain the quick variations of aerodynamics at the passing through the sonic shock, otherwise, then, it "might" flip over...
(You don't need to get to sonic speed to flip over: you might actually take off way before that if it is badly designed!)
2006-09-20 07:43:46 · answer #3 · answered by just "JR" 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Breaking the sound barrier by itself will not cause any harmful reactions. All it means is that you are traveling faster than sound. You don't actually "break" through anything. And how exactly would water "blow up"?
2006-09-20 07:08:25 · answer #4 · answered by Sordenhiemer 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Same as would happen in the air! Would get sonic boom, water may 'blow' up but you would be going so bloody fast it wouldn't effect you as it is left in your wake.
Why should your craft cartwheel out of control??
2006-09-20 07:07:16 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
With the current technology available it is not possible to break the sound barrier while travelling on water.
2006-09-20 07:12:06 · answer #6 · answered by hari_mpkumar 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
prb with breaking the WSR is getting the downforce on your craft to hold you down on the water without becoming airborn
2006-09-20 07:12:39 · answer #7 · answered by FLOYD 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
you would very likely get very wet as well as having damaged eardrums ,breaking the sound barrier on water ... at sea level is not at the moment very likely .due to the air density at that level...but we progress...
2006-09-20 17:50:00 · answer #8 · answered by derbytrucker 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I haven't got a clue, but I would like to say that that is a damn good question.
I'll be watching this one to see what answers you get.
2006-09-20 07:06:46 · answer #9 · answered by jackie 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
what about the nasa sapce shuttle mission, take off and espeically re-entry - how fast do they go?
2006-09-21 19:50:38 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋