Or in other words - what is the science at work behind the cloud vapor and the noise when a supersonic jet does this?
2006-12-28 12:05:43 · 10 answers · asked by mishel24 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
thanks for some answers - before there is more - I understand what is happening on the basic level, although many people pointed out that it means the plane has gone through the sound barrier. That I knew, I really am interested in a very scientific answer (answer #2, yours is best so far)!! Thanks, keep them coming, the more detail the better..
2006-12-28 12:19:56 · update #1
The aircraft compresses the air as it passes the sound barrier, creating a bow wave in the atmosphere. This compression disk gets distorted into a cone as it is dragged forward. When it reaches the ground, it acts just like an audio system speaker, and that compression wave is felt as that familiar boom.
That cloud disk is caused by the rarification of the air on the vacuum side of the compression disk. The low pressure pulls the water out where you can see it.
2006-12-28 12:13:20 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
An aircraft well compress the air as it passes through,if the speed reaches 770 MPH ( sound barrier), it will creating a wave in the atmosphere. Then the air is dragged in to a cone shape. now the faster the aircraft is going the longer or sharper this cone becomes and the longer it will take for the boom to hit you. As the air craft passes over head the cone or wave is being dragged behind it when that cone reaches your location you feel the concussion wave hit kind of like a truck on the freeway passing you standing beside the road (at low flight levels 200 feet or lower only), at the same time as this you her the boom, this is the cone creating an acoustics wave across the ground. Think of it like this if you where in a boat the wake behind you is your sound wave or cone, at 770 MPH that cone or wave will be about 100 feet behind you almost like you where not touching the water. Now some people will argue that breaking the sound barrier is like bending time or time dilation, but there is no conclusive evidence of this yet. I hope this helps. Good Luck
2006-12-28 12:33:57 · answer #2 · answered by matt v 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
A sonic boom is the audible component of a shock wave in air.
The boom is due to the air filling the vaccum caused by the high speed movement of plane..
Sonic booms generate enormous amounts of sound energy, sounding much like an explosion, typically the shock front may approach 100 megawatts per square meter, and may exceed 200 decibels.
2006-12-28 17:05:19 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You can see the same effect on sea waves. The wind that reaches the speed of sea waves pushes the back side constantly and in this way makes the wave bigger. The same goes with the plain and the air except that instead of height (in the sea wave) you have air pressure. The pressure can't become infinite, nor can the airplane fly exactly the sound speed. So when airplane passes the sound barrier it causes "big" wave (air pressure) which is like an air pulse. For human this is sound of a bang. The same effect of "pushing the air" is used in traveling wave tubes, except there the "airplane" is the electron beam and waves are electromagnetic. Beam is in synch with the wave speed and amplifies it constantly.
2006-12-28 13:03:51 · answer #4 · answered by fernando_007 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
When one goes through a sound barrier and it has achieved a certain speed - it creates a noise and that is called a sonic boom
2006-12-28 12:15:00 · answer #5 · answered by Janis G 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm not sure about the cloud vapor, but the jet has broken the sound barrier, i.e. the jet has just surpassed the speed of sound when you hear the "boom."
2006-12-28 12:13:23 · answer #6 · answered by soulguy85 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
air molecules zip around at 750 mph[which is the speed of sound]
so when something moves near this speed air has a harder time moving out of its way.if something moves at the speed of sound,the air forms a high-density region called a shock front[the literal sound barrier].if the object moves even faster ,the shock front "breaks"cosing a sonic boom.i read this in a book ,but i may have interpreted it wrong.suspender and Matt v have good answers.
2006-12-28 15:15:38 · answer #7 · answered by the professor 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The plane travels faster than the speed of sound so sound waves build up at the front of the aircraft. Lots of waves=BOOM
2006-12-28 12:13:05 · answer #8 · answered by honor roller 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
the plane is traveling faster than the spped of sound and trails a cone shaped wave front of sound that is the boom
2006-12-28 17:16:00 · answer #9 · answered by Kev 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
sonic boom
2006-12-28 15:31:57 · answer #10 · answered by tootsie6786 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋