Saturday 2 December 2017

waves - Speed of sound and Break the sound barrier



What happens when plane exceeds the speed of sound? and What is the interpretation of the conical shape that appears behind the plane?



enter image description here



Answer



The shock wave from a supersonic object is a cone composed of overlapping spherical wavefronts. As individual wavefronts form, they propagates radially outward at speed $c$ (speed of sound) and have a radius $ct$. At the same time the object traveling at speed $v$ moves forward $vt$. The angle of the vertex of the of the shock wave is known as the Mach angle and is given by:


$$\sin(\theta) = c/v$$


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