If you're sitting in the back of a plane that is traveling the speed of sound, and you getup and walk to the front, are you moving faster than the speed of sound?
2007-03-20 10:53:55 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Depends on what you're referring to. The air inside the plane is pressurized and is also traveling at the speed of sound, and any sound you make with your body will be traveling at the speed of sound plus the speed you are traveling at (which is the speed of the airplane). So in this case, if you were to shout on the airplane traveling at the speed of sound, the sound inside the airplane would travel at twice the speed of sound relative to the outside air. However, relative to the inside, it is traveling at the speed of sound.
With questions like these, you always have to think "relative to what".
2007-03-20 11:05:21 · answer #1 · answered by pedros2008 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
yes youre moving at the speed of sound plus your speed
but relative to the outside
2007-03-20 22:21:45 · answer #2 · answered by 22 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, but only relative to the outside air. The air passing by your body is still very, very subsonic.
2007-03-20 18:00:58 · answer #3 · answered by Steve 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, but only to the air outside.
2007-03-20 18:46:31 · answer #4 · answered by Groo-V 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋