Shock wave shock wave, creating a process of destructive interference. The sonic boom associated with the passage of a supersonic aircraft is a type of sound wave produced by constructive interference. Unlike solitons (another kind of nonlinear wave), the energy and speed of a shock wave alone dissipates relatively quickly with distance. When a shock wave passes through matter, energy is preserved but entropy increases. This change in the matter's properties manifests itself as a decrease in the energy which can be extracted as work, and as a drag force on supersonic objects; shock waves are strongly irreversible processes. Shock waves can
Shock tube detonator Shock tube detonator A shock tube detonator is a non-electric explosive fuze or initiator in the form of small-diameter hollow plastic tubing used to transport an initiating signal to an explosive charge by means of a percussive wave traveling the length of the tube. It was invented by Per Anders Persson of Nitro Nobel AB, patented, and sold by them under the registered trademark Nonel, containing a small quantity of high explosive, but safer and more reliable than detonating cord with the same quantity of explosive. Another early product contained an enclosed combusting, non-detonating fiber. The most common product is