20 Aug
Breaking the Sound Barrier
Did you know that you can “see” sound?
Take a look at the above image that has been borrowed from the Wiki.
It is a Navy FA-18 Hornet that is passing from transonic to supersonic speed.
The white halo is said to form from the condensed water droplets in the air as the air pressure drops around the plane when it reaches supersonic speed.
This allows us to “see” the sound - the sonic boom that is made as the plane goes over the 768 miles per hour it takes to break the sound barrier.
It looks almost ghostly and unreal, and I can only imagine the reactions of the pilots when this was first experienced back in the late 1940’s.
It’s something that is ordinary now, but the photos show how amazing it really still is.
Breaking the sound barrier is one of humanity’s firsts in scientific enterprise. And maybe, just around the corner, scientists are developing the warp engines that would make ships travel faster than the speed of light. They already have the mathematical equation for it.
August 21st, 2010 at 8:36 am