![]() Here’s a pretty cool compilation of jets creating sonic booms: As an aircraft flies at supersonic speeds it is continually generating shock waves, dropping sonic boom along its flight path, similar to someone dropping objects from a moving vehicle. These waves travel at the speed of sound, and as the speed of the aircraft increases the waves are forced together, or compressed, because they cannot “get out of the way” of each other, eventually merging into a single shock wave at the speed of sound. This is because as an object passes through the air, it creates a series of pressure waves in front of it and behind it, similar to the bow and stern waves created by a boat. Sonic Boom: A sonic boom can be created when a plane goes faster than the speed of sound. Of course, the speed of sound depends on how high above sea level the plane is and what the temperature is. At Mach 2 the plane would be traveling at twice the speed of sound. Thus, at Mach 1, a plane would be traveling exactly equal to the speed of sound. Mach:“Mach” is how fast with reference to the speed of sound something (usually a plane) is traveling. Here’s a helpful chart (note that 447 meters per second is 1,000 mph): Solids: Sound speed can vary greatly in solids.The speed of sound increases in water with temperature and pressure. Water: Sound travels at 3,315 mph through water at 46☏.At 30,000 feet speed of sound is about 678 mph. At 32 degrees at sea level the speed of sound is 742 mph. Air: At sea level at 59 degrees with zero humidity sound travels just a tad over 761 mph.Thus, temperature affects the speed of sounds, as does pressure. The closer the molecules are to each other and the tighter their bonds, the faster sound travels. What is the speed of sound? That depends on what medium it is traveling through. So, there is no sound in a vacuum such as space (all those explosions in sci-fi movies are actually silent!). Thus, in order for sound to travel it must be transported through a medium capable of conducting waves, such as a gas, liquid or solid. It is kinetic energy that travels from molecule to molecule. Sound is generated by a vibrating object acting on molecules around it and travels as waves.
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