Friday, September 23, 2011

What is so special about a plane crossing the speed of sound?

When a jet plane travels through air, it creates waves that can be very powerful.





What different thing happens when it crosses the sound barrier that causes the condensation and hence the formation of the cloud?|||The plane creates a pressure wave around the fuselage and wings. In effect a mass of air is pushed forward creating a partial vacuum just behind the pressure wave. The fog forms in that sudden vacuum. The sudden change in pressure cools the air and water vapor forms.|||It breaks the sound barrier when it crosses it and creates a sonic boom and the condensation cloud. When a whip is cracked the end travels at the speed of sound.

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