What is exceeded to produce a sonic boom?

Answer 1

340.29 meters per second at sea level, or approximately 760 miles per hour.

The sonic boom is created when the speed passes the speed of sound, and that varies depending on the air pressure.

Answer 2

You can learn a lot about sonic booms by looking at the wakes boats leave in the water. If you toss a pebble in a pond, little waves will form in concentric circles and propagate away from the point of impact. If a boat travels through the pond at 3 to 5 miles per hour, little waves will propagate in the same way both ahead of and behind the boat, and the boat will travel through them. If a boat travels faster than the waves can propagate through water, then the waves "can't get out of the way" of the boat fast enough, and they form a wake. A wake is a larger single wave. It is formed out of all the little waves that would have propagated ahead of the boat but could not.

When an airplane travels through the air, it produces sound waves. If the plane is traveling slower than the speed of sound (the speed of sound varies, but 700 mph is typical through air), then sound waves can propagate ahead of the plane. If the plane breaks the sound barrier and flies faster than the speed of sound, it produces a sonic boom when it flies past. The boom is the "wake" of the plane's sound waves. All of the sound waves that would have normally propagated ahead of the plane are combined together so at first you hear nothing, and then you hear the boom they create. It is just like being on the shore of a smooth lake when a boat speeds past. There is no disturbance in the water as the boat comes by, but eventually a large wave from the wake rolls onto shore. When a plane flies past at supersonic speeds the exact same thing happens, but instead of the large wake wave, you get a sonic boom.

Answer 3

The question is poorly stated.

It isn't the accelerating past the speed of sound that creates the shock wave we hear as a sonic boom. The full explanation is that upon attaining the speed of sound, the object (a plane, bullet, even the tip of a bullwhip) creates a wave that is heard as a sonic boom when it passes over a listener on the ground. The "sonic boom" is continuous as long as the object remains above the speed of sound, creating the shock wave that is heard as a singular event (the sonic boom) as it passes along the ground.

Thus a sonic boom/shock wave begins at the moment the object exceeds the speed of sound and continues until the object slows below the speed of sound. The sonic boom only appears to be a singular event (like an explosion) to the listener at one spot on the ground, while in reality it is a continuously created shock wave that follows the speeding object.

Answer 4

When an object passes through the air, it creates a series of pressure waves in front of it and behind it, similar to the waves created by a boat. These waves travel at the speed of sound, and as the speed of the object 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.

clomplements of wikipedia

Answer 5

The speed of sound. The term sonic boom is commonly used to refer to the shocks caused by the supersonic flight of an aircraft. Sonic booms generate enormous amounts of sound energy, sounding much like an explosion. When 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. These waves travel at the speed of sound, and as the speed of the object 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 critical speed is known as Mach 1 and is approximately 1,225 kilometers per hour at sea level at room temperature. In smooth flight, the shock wave starts at the nose of the aircraft and ends at the tail. Because directions around the aircraft's direction of travel are equivalent, the shock forms a Mach cone with the aircraft at its tip.

Answer 6

Aircraft exceeding the speed of sound (Mach 1) produce a sonic boom. The sudden change in pressure as the aircraft surpasses the speed of sound creates shock waves that merge into a single, powerful pressure wave heard as a loud bang on the ground.

Answer 7

By an object travelling faster than the speed of sound (which is not particularly difficult to achieve; whips move faster than this, as do many sudden cracks in glass, among other things)

Answer 8

the heated air moves more qiuckly than the lightning

Answer 9

sonic