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No. In a well-designed supersonic craft the only way you know you're =
going faster that (outside) sound is to watch the Mach meter.
skip
-----Original Message-----
=46rom: Larry Smith [mailto:larry.smith@SNOW.EDU]
Sent: Monday, December 01, 2003 10:50
To: PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu
Subject: but does the pilot hear the sonic boom?
At 3:46 PM -0600 11/24/03, Jorge Salazar wrote:
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Wednesday, November 26, 2003
SOUND SPEED
Sound waves move at about 340 meters per second -- about two-tenths =
mile per second. A listener wonders if you can hear anything when y=ou
travel faster than sound. The answer -- after this on Earth and Sky.ace
_________________________________________________________
DB: This is Earth and Sky. When we visited the National Air and Sp=
Museum in Washington D.C., we got this question.nd or
Caitlin Rush: My name's Caitlin Rush, and I'm from State College,
Pennsylvania , and I ask, "When you're traveling at the speed of sou=
faster can you hear anything?"car.
JB: Caitlin, the answer is yes. Imagine you're seated in a parked =
You switch on the radio. The car's speakers begin to vibrate. The s=peaker
cone presses against air molecules near the speaker, which push agai=nst
neighboring air molecules. Much like firefighters passing a bucket,=this
wave of pressure eventually reaches your ears. Your brain interpret=s this
wave of pressure as sound.40
DB: Now imagine you attach a pointy nose to your car and add enough
horsepower to break the sound barrier. As you cruise at more than 3=
meters per second -- that's more than two-tenths of a mile per secon=d -- or
faster than the speed of sound -- you reach over and switch on the r=adio.
Your car -- and you -- and all the air molecules around you -- areng
traveling that fast. So the sound wave pushes away from the vibrati=
speakers in exactly the same way it did in the parked car, and you c=an hear
the sound.rcraft!
JB: And that's good news for pilots and passengers of supersonic ai=
Thanks for your question, Caitlin. And with thanks to the National =Science
Foundation, we're Block and Byrd for Earth and Sky.
http://www.earthsky.com/2003/es031126.html
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