A SONIC BOOM (IN
AVIATION)
This is the loud noise (like thunder) produced by a supersonic aircraft which is flying faster than the
speed of sound.
The speed of sound is 1 220km/h at sea level
(760mph), it is commonly called Mach 1
When you are flying, your nice
aircraft is creating a lot of air waves all around it, those waves are moving
away when the aircraft flies (imagine a boat moving and see the wake in front of it…).
But if you want to go faster,
those waves don’t have the time to move away so they combine into a large shock wave: the sonic boom.
This shock wave will move with the aircraft as long as it
stays at the speed of sound of course, so it explains why you are able
to hear it in a very large area…
