What is the Mach of the speed of light?
2007-06-30 01:32:49 · 7 answers · asked by fizzy stuff 7 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Other - Science
Speed of light is not counted in Machs. Sound is a mechanical vibration and requires a medium like air for transmission. When the speed crosses a limit (Mach 1), the object travels faster than the sound can travel in the medium and a shock wave results. The travel is also called supersonic since the speed is higher than that of sound in air.
Light doesn't require a medium and there is no shock wave associated with its travel. So a Mach number is meaningless.
2007-06-30 02:54:56 · answer #1 · answered by Swamy 7 · 2⤊ 6⤋
Speed Of Light In Mach
2016-09-30 00:15:03 · answer #2 · answered by jordana 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You gave the wrong person the best answer in general aviation when a plane's speed is given in a mach number it reffers to the speed of sound at sea level not at the current altitude.
As you get higher the speed of sound slows and thinner air.
For example the top speed of a U-2 spyplane is 500 mph the cruising speed is about 429 mph.
At the altitude the U-2 cruises at this is very close to the speed that sound travels at.
However you would not see the plane's top speed listed as mach .9
2013-10-14 10:25:53 · answer #3 · answered by ☦ICXCNIKA ☦ 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
When a object is moving at a speed twords something the sound waves get closer together giving it a higher pitch. This is known as the doppler effect. Sound waves are really pressure waves. As the object approches mach 1 the waves are moving at the speed of the object so they end up compounded upon each other in a line. So after a shockwave there is total silence. Once the object exceeds the speed of sound the difference in pressure is so large that a shock occors. A sonic boom occurs at the speed of sound in the medium. Mach 1 is the speed of sound in air that depends on what tempreture the air is so a sonic boom doesn't occor at the same speed in hydrogen or oxigen. In a vaccum there is no medium for sound to travel so a sonic boom can't occur in a vaccum, and outer space can be compared to a vaccum.
2016-03-16 05:39:35 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Basically, "Mach" means the number of times something is moving faster than sound. It applies to things like aircraft, bullets or gases flowing in pipes.
Note that Mach number does not represent anything unless there is something moving through a gas or a gas moving through something such as a pipe.
Mach numbers become useful when the relative speed is close to the speed of sound at the temperature of the gas. For example Mach 1.5 at 0 degrees is not the same speed as Mach 1.5 at 30 degrees, because the speed of sound depends on temperature, pressure the nature of the gas etc.
Mach numbers for light!!! Currently there are no applications which involve movement at speeds comparable to the speed of light. Besides that, even if there was, different observers looking at the moving objects would 'see' very different speeds, so the issue of relativity comes in.
Probably what you are asking about is the relativistic scaling of the speed, which is something like 1-v^2/C^2 or the lorentz transform from Einsteins theory.
check
2007-06-30 01:45:44 · answer #5 · answered by Mr Man 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
This Site Might Help You.
RE:
If Mach 1 is the speed of sound....?
What is the Mach of the speed of light?
2015-08-18 21:11:36 · answer #6 · answered by Kimmo 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The speed of the sound in normal atmospheric conditions is 1238 km/h (0.344 km/s).
The speed of light is 300,000 Km/s.
To calculate de mach number, you have to use the following equation:
Mach= (speed)/(sound's speed).
So
Mach of light= 300.000/0.344 = 872,093 an enormous value.
It is unuseful misure the speed of light in mach.
2007-06-30 01:43:34 · answer #7 · answered by the_verduz 4 · 8⤊ 0⤋
Put it this way: if Mach 1 is somewhere at 344 mph, Mach of speed of light would be:
186,000 mph/344 mph.
Calculate, then the result is the Mach.
I think it's somewhere at 5,000+.
2007-06-30 03:42:18 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 9⤋