Yep! As a jet plane flies through the sky it is pushing its way through the air. The air travels as fast as it can from the plane, which is the speed of sound. A problem arises when the jet plane reaches the speed of sound as the air it is cutting its way through cannot get out of the way fast enough. This results in a massive build up of air pressure which is released as a loud explosion – a sonic boom.
Not only do you get a boom, but sometimes you can even see the pressure wave piling up in a thing with the amazing name of the “Prandtl-Glauert singularity”. Check out these clips on youtube:
Comments