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Sound travels through the air in concentric waves, like a stone falling into a pond. The sound barrier is the speed limit at which an airplane can move through the air without running over the sound waves emitted by itself. The speed of sound in air is approximately 340 meters per second (1,200 km/h). As the plane accelerates, these waves come together and pile up in front of you, like a series of intertwined strings. When the plane finally manages to overcome the speed of the waves, it breaks this imaginary cord. “The moment the speed of sound is exceeded, a bang is heard. That’s what we call breaking the sound barrier”, says physicist Carlos Luengo, from Unicamp.
Once the barrier is broken, there are no more bangs, because, although the wave fronts continue to propagate, they are left behind and the flight continues completely silent. The first supersonic flight was made on October 14, 1947, by the American Chuck Yeager, piloting a Bell X-1. According to Luengo, the first planes to cross the barrier did so in free fall.
thundering overtaking
Supersonic plane runs over sound waves emitted by itself, causing a loud bang
1. Sound waves propagate concentrically
2. As the plane’s speed increases, the noise also increases, as the waves flatten out
3. When the ship finally reaches the same speed as sound, a bang is heard, a sign that the barrier has been broken
In this video, you can check out the bang and explanation of the air barrier that forms when this happens:
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWGLAAYdbbc&w=560&h=315]
Read too:
– How is a song recorded?
– How does the cockpit of an airplane work?
– How does the plane fly?