Was it known that breaking the sound barrier .....

[TheFied]

would make a 'thunderous' clap?

Watching "Right Stuff" on tv. I was wondering if people knew that it would make a loud noise when breaking the sound barrier.

 

[milk_monitor]

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[madscientist]

will there be a flash of light if we break the light barrier?

 

[ScoPro]

Ask your nearest Wookie

 

[kevwun]

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[milk_monitor]

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[austintex]

Perhaps, although at that point people might have been more concerned with the real boom made by the v2 exploding in their town.

 

[Statalyzer]

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[kevwun]

You are right that the "boom" is continuous as long as the object is going faster than the speed of sound. I didn't know that. I think this part from Wiki explains why the V2 was silent.

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[EuroHorn]

You will usually hear two booms. One from the shock wave at the front of the plane and the other from the shock wave from the tail.

The air in front of the plane is subsonic and the shock wave is the equivalent to air molecules piling up. As the air passes through the shockwave on the nose it accelerates to supersonic. The shockwave at the tail basically expands the air as it becomes subsonic again.

 

[jmatt]

Maybe because the V2 was coming pretty much straight down.

Wouldn't that mean that the sound was behind the rocket? If you were right under the rocket, you wouldn't hear the sonic boom - until or at the same time as the other boom...

 

[Statalyzer]

Well, that assumes that the boom didn't happen until the Rocket started heading straight down. My guess it reached supersonic speeds awhile after launch while above the English channel or whatnot, and nobody heard it for the same reason that I wouldn't hear a sonic boom that happened over Louisiana.

 

[milk_monitor]

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[Math Mudrat]

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[EuroHorn]

For you to hear the sonic boom, the actual pressure wave, either on the nose or tail would have to pass you by. The strength of the pressure wave weakens the further it is away from the actual plane or rocket. Think of them of as a bow and stern wave off a boat. Same principle.

 

[mia1994]

A massive particle (particle possessing mass) has never broken the light barrier, as far as we know... ever.

 

[Math Mudrat]

In what medium?

In vacuum, nothing travels faster than the speed of light. In another medium like water, the speed of light is significantly slower than the speed of light in vacuum. Particles can and do go faster than this speed, but are always slower than c.