Applet courtesy of Physlets Page at

What pattern of waves do you predict when you increase the speed of the object to higher than the speed of sound? Try it and see by adjusting the "speed" slider to a number greater than 1, such as 1.5.

Here's where the questions get tough:
What would the object sound like as it is approaching you?
What would the object sound like when it passes you?
We know airplanes experienced violent buffeting when they approached Mach 1, so what do you think happened to the planes when they broke the "sound barrier?"

 

Credits | Comments

Portions of this site © Randy Bell, Philip Molebash, and Gerry Swan