File:Sonic_boom.svg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
sonic boom
Sign in to savesound associated with shock waves created when an object travels through the air faster than the speed of sound
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Encyclopedic overview
Sonic boom sound made by an F/A-18 passing overhead
The sound source is travelling at 1.4 times the speed of sound (Mach 1.4). Since the source is moving faster than the sound waves it creates, it leads the advancing wavefront. A sonic boom produced by an aircraft moving at M=2.92, calculated from the cone angle of 20 degrees. Observers hear nothing until the shock wave, on the edges of the cone, crosses their location. Mach cone angle NASA data showing N-wave signature. Conical shockwave with its hyperbola-shaped ground contact zone in yellow
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “sonic boom” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.