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Re: Interference pattern & jets



On Sun, 18 Apr 1999, Mike Wilson wrote:

In watching the military jets take of on the nightly news I notice the
exhaust exhibits patterns of bright exhaust, dark lines, bright exhaust,
etc.

Am I seeing some type of interfernce pattern from light?
Am I seeing some type of combustion pattern (I can't imagine what)?
Why do I only notice it in military jets?
Does it depend on the use of after burners?

Mike,

What you are seeing is a standing wave in the exhaust gas pressure. You
only see this type of effect with afterburners. One can see this most
prominantly during a night or twilight take-off.

J. Douglas Patterson
Adjunct Inst of Physics & Physical Science
Office: SCI 105C
Phone: (913)469-4444 Ext. 5947
http://www.jccc.net/~dpatter

"When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second.
When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour.
That's relativity." - Albert Einstein -