I have the same inkling as William Beaty (below). In fact, as another
pointed out, the movie allows us to see at least two events... the cloud
forms, disappears, reappears, and disappears. If the official Navy
explanation were correct, this would imply the aircraft "broke the sound
barrier" then decelerated below the barrier, then accelerated and broke it
again. That seems unlikely to me. I am more inclined to believe the
aircraft was flying at a steady speed just above the speed of sound (hence
the shock wave was right at the aircraft and not very conical), and as the
aircraft flew along it encountered air conditions that were sometimes just
right for condensation and sometimes not just right for condensation. I
would guess conditions are mostly not right, and that's why these photos are
not more prevalent.
Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D. Phone/voice-mail: 419-358-3270
Professor of Chemistry & Physics FAX: 419-358-3323
Chairman, Science Department E-Mail edmiston@bluffton.edu
Bluffton College
280 West College Avenue
Bluffton, OH 45817
William Beaty said:
Ah, the explanation is easy: they make it so much simpler when they make
it horribly wrong! Think as a child, where the "sound barrier" is
obviously a wall of invisible bricks which the aircraft must penetrate.
That white stuff isn't a cloud generated by a shockwave. Instead it is
the very "Sound Barrier" that you've heard so much about. The F14 is
breaking it! But part of the aircraft that hasn't gone through the white
wall, so that part of the plane must not have "broken the sound barrier"
yet. :)
But seriously, as soon as somebody starts talking about "sound barriers"
which must be "broken", you should regard everything else they say with
great suspicion.
The cloud in the video is conical, which suggests that the aircraft is
already flying faster than sound. As I understand it, the shock wave
would be a flat disk when the aircraft flies at slightly above the speed
of sound, and becomes more and more conical as the speed increases.
That website states that the cloud goes away at higher aircraft speed.
Really? I thought that a shockwave was a shockwave, and if the
temperature/humidity was right, a cloud would form, and at higher speeds
it would simply be more conical.