Sonic boom Sonic boom A sonic boom is the sound associated with the shock waves created whenever an object travelling through the air travels faster than the speed of sound. Sonic booms generate enormous amounts of sound energy, sounding similar to an explosion or a thunderclap to the human ear. The crack of a supersonic bullet passing overhead or the crack of a bullwhip are examples of a sonic boom in miniature. Sonic booms due to large supersonic aircraft can be particularly loud and startling, tend to awaken people, and may cause minor damage to some structures. They led to prohibition of
Shock (fluid dynamics) Shock (fluid dynamics) "Shock" is an abrupt discontinuity in the flow field and It occurs in flows when the local flow speed exceeds the local sound speed. More specifically, it is a flow whose Mach number exceeds 1. Shock is formed due to coalescence of various small pressure pulses. Sound waves are pressure waves and it is at the speed of the sound wave the disturbances are "communicated" in the medium. When an object is moving in a flow field the object sends out disturbances which propagate at the speed of sound and "adjusts" the remaining flow field accordingly. However,