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SEE A Sonic Boom: 50 Amazing Photos Of Aircraft Breaking The Sound Barrier

pic1.funtigo.com — These are just fantastic: "Many people have heard a sonic boom, but few have seen one. When an airplane travels at a speed faster than sound, density waves of sound emitted by the plane cannot precede the plane, and so accumulate in a cone behind the plane."

Who dugg this? Made popular Dec 27, 2006

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  • jbester, on 10/12/2007, -1/+30> Hypothetically, if you could go faster than light, would there be a "photon boom"?

    Yeah, it's called the Cherenkov effect. It happens when things pass faster than light through a particular medium (usually water).
    See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherenkov_effect
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+27You've never been to an airshow, have you?
  • brstilson, on 10/12/2007, -6/+29"Uhm, physics?"

    Physics is something that we as humans understand very little about. It was a common thought not 20 years before supersonic flight that breaking the sound barrier would be impossible. Many also used to believe that human beings could not withstand travel at speeds exceeding 30 MPH.

    There has also been research that suggests that using gravity could create a "bubble" in space-time that would allow objects with mass to exceed the speed of light. Gravity is a very powerful and misunderstood force. It is the force that mankind knows the least about. It kind of makes sense though. Black Holes can actually capture light itself using it.

    I'm not saying that I necessarily believe that faster-than-light travel is going to happen, but I think it's foolish to discount the possibility, just like it was foolish of previous generations to insist that man would never fly, break the sound barrier, or even travel faster than 30 mph.
  • Nixxo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+21this is just one of the amazing things humans have accomplished in the past 100 years

    stunning
  • simpleid, on 10/12/2007, -2/+17Hypothetically, if you could go faster than light, would there be a "photon boom"?
  • bubba9999, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12Most, if not all, of these planes are going under the speed of sound. The clouds can occur when the sound barrier is breached, but the two aren't always connected. How many planes exceed the speed of sound at an air show, for instance? (answer: none, in the US anyways). Yet half of these pictures are from air shows. The videos show planes under the speed of sound as well.
  • z3rgRush, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10The cloud gallery is not any less impressive.

    http://pic1.funtigo.com/valuca/?g=25544746&cr=1
  • rolosworld, on 10/12/2007, -4/+13I like hadoken's better
  • randomgeek, on 10/12/2007, -4/+12Uhm, physics?
  • Lister, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7bubba9999 is correct. The condensation phenomena is unrelated to supersonic speeds - you can see condensation clouds forming on the spoilers of Formula 1 race cars given the right atmospheric conditions. That's not to say that they can't also form at transonic or supersonic speeds. From the article: "there is nothing in the physics which would suggest that the region of condensation must be coincident with the region of supersonic flow." The headline is entirely wrong - you are NOT "seeing a sonic boom".
  • ez12a, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Isn't that just a vapor cone?
  • Rivetgeek, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5There is a huge difference between accelerating to the speed of light and moving faster than the speed of light. According to special relativity (which has not been disproved) approaching the speed of light is not possible because it would take an infinite amount of energy to reach it. However through space bending or wormholes, it is theoretically possible to move a distance faster than light can cover the same distance.
  • Jelloyeti, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Every time a gallery of these show up any where online someone comes in and calls them fakes. They aren't. Why would you fake a photo of something that has already been captured, in real life, over and over and over again.

    In the blue angel picture in question the boat that is so close is a coast guard ship. The angels used to come to my home town of Traverse City, MI nearly every summer (until they decided all of the sudden that the wind conditions were too dangerous to perform there). I've seen this many, many times.

    Now go put on your tin foil hat and sit in the corner.
  • master_of_fm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4title and article are both inaccurate, Prandtl-Glauert Condensation Clouds occur at transonic speeds and not supersonic. plus some variant of this story has been on the front page so many times. even a video showing it made the front page less than a month ago...

    http://digg.com/videos/educational/Caught_on_Video_U_S_Navy_F_A_18F_Super_Hornet_Fighter_Jet_Defies_Gravity

    also this is my favorite gallery of Prandtl-Glauert Condensation Clouds, while the page is not in english, the photo descriptions are a part of the images and they are in english...

    http://chamorrobible.org/gpw/gpw-20061112.htm

  • randomgeek, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4It's not quite the same as the sound barrier where the only limits were technical ones. In order to move faster than light you have to completely ignore Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity. There are some other options discussed here:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faster-than-light#Option_A:_Ignore_special_relativity

    My personal feeling is that we'll never be able to move faster than light, though we may be able to move distances that would appear to make the travel faster than light (i.e., wormholes, "folding" space, etc), without having to physically accelerate to the speed of light.
  • VAXcat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3 Well, they're not supposed to break the sound barrier...but, one time a Blue Angels pilot, Capt. Vince Donile, at an air show in Kelowna B. C., hustling to get back into position, punched it through the sound barrier accidentally ...lotta broken glass in the city that day...back in the late 50s and early 60s, military aircraft used to break the sound barrier all the time over cities (but high enough to not do any damage). As a kid I used to enjoy to BOOM sound when it happened.
  • fofusion, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5It's strange that we have taken a step backwords when usually we are leaping forwards creating better technology.

    Going from 8 hours from the UK to New York to about 3hrs (beating the time zones) where it now takes 8 hours :-(

    I really wish I had been able to fly on Concorde such a beautiful aircraft.
  • 3Den, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3B1B was capable of Mach 1.2 at altittude.
  • drjekelmrhyde, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3you nerds those planes ARE NOT BREAKING THE SOUND BARRIER its a phenomenon involving a combination F-18's or others flying supersonicof the aerodynamics of the airplane, the atmospheric pressure
  • fffizzz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I actually got to see this happen at a local air show. It was the most amazing thing I saw the entire day. They were demoing a F18 Super Hornet and i believe they said it was traveling at 600mph or knots, don't remember. But it was insane the way the condensation cloud would form a bubble around the jet and instantly disappear and reappear. It was truly spectacular.
  • cjcj, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I have seen this at an airshow and the f16 i saw was not flying at the speed of sound..
    (its also not legal to fly that fast over land i thought, due to noise etc)

    here is a good explanation of the phenomena:

    http://fluidmech.net/tutorials/sonic/prandtl-glauert-clouds.htm
    (it says at the bottom of the article.."Prandtl-Glauert condensation has nothing to do with "breaking the sound barrier" and is not a Star Trek-like "burst" through Mach one. An aircraft can generate a Prandtl-Glauert condensation cloud without ever exceeding the speed of sound. "

    Another comment from a digg users on this same topic from an earlier post says "Anyone who has been to an airshow has seen this phenomena repeatedly. It doesn't require supersonic flight to occur at all. All it requires is an area of low pressure. You can even see this happen on commercial planes at under 300 knots on a humid day as they adjust their flaps for landing. Although the pictures are nice, they may or may not be the result of breaking the sound barrier. "

    see digg article from about 1 year ago "http://digg.com/general_sciences/Rare_photo_of_Space_Shuttle_Sonic_Boom"
  • chicbicyclist, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Dugg just for the condensation clouds alone!

    This is the internet in its full glory, useless but cool stuff .

    Okay. Free porn too.
  • thewaz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3thats not really pushing them to the limits.
  • josegutz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4"SEE A Sonic Boom: 50 Amazing Photos Of Aircraft Breaking Wind"

    That would have been a much more interesting headline.
  • richard67, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The proof supersonic speeds are not required to produce this effect this is that the B-1B and B-2 are not capable of supersonic speeds, especially at sea level (The B-1A was).
  • demosthenes, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4" density waves of sound emitted by the plane cannot precede the plane, and so accumulate in a cone behind the plane. "
    Lol, denisty waves of sound. I'm pretty sure you can't see sound waves no matter how fast you're travelling. It's water vapor, not sound waves.
  • richard67, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Yes bubba9999 is correct. The condensation phenomena is unrelated to supersonic speeds. Anyone who has been to an airshow knows this. But Bubba is not correct about the speed of sound being exceeded at a US airshow. It is done every year above the Edwards AFB airshow, but it is done at about 30,000 feet. Even at that altitude it is very loud.
  • Jist, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Those condensation clouds make the jets look like they are wearing skirts. It's adorable. hehe
  • braydonf, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"Finally, it should be clear that Prandtl-Glauert condensation has nothing to do with "breaking the sound barrier" and is not a Star Trek-like "burst" through Mach one. An aircraft can generate a Prandtl-Glauert condensation cloud without ever exceeding the speed of sound."

    hmmmm
  • kronicoutkast, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Its remarkable that you could put up with such a thing.
  • drjekelmrhyde, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2yeap if they google vapor cone images they will have known that
  • dtd00d, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5@macmatition
    This is a concept that has been held for a number of years but recently has come under fire by a few separate physicist teams who claim they have made particles attain speeds greater than the speed of light.

    Offhand I can only remember one guy who did something with a cesium gas and claimed he made a particle go faster than light, which accounted for the trail it left. (If anyone else has heard this please back me up with a link)

    Another example, this time Swiss: http://www.physorg.com/news5929.html

    I'm not saying they're right, I'm saying the theory is now in question. Of course there are people who believe in a victorious exit strategy in Iraq, so one can never really know these days.

    Btw the condensation clouds = awexome

    edit: Amen, brstilson
  • jason72780, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1When I was in the Army, a missle test range was near us. When we would hear a sonic boom we would tell the new guys that it was a double barreled m1 tank they were testing and we would mess with them for awhile trying to find out how to get into the testing program, would being in it help speed up promotions(which came quick with armor anyway), ect
  • donald347, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1YEAH, uh, take it you bastard sound barrier!
  • lvlolvlo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1that sucks.....i've had this avtar since i joined digg and i didn't get dugg.... boo hoo! i'm gonna tell my mother! hahahah just kidding...or am i!
  • drjekelmrhyde, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1the blue f-18 over the lake if that plane was breaking the sound barrier EVERY window near it will shatter
  • Nocturnalis, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Air Planes alone getting off the ground still amaze me to this day. I use to live along the flight path of 2 run ways at JFK airport and would watch planes land and take off for hours on end everyday growing up. Have you every saw and heard a 747 take off over your house at an altitude of about 100ft over your roof. Remarkable!

    I can't even fathem seeing a sonic boom in real life. We truely have come a long way.
  • randomgeek, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Who the hell keeps digging people down for saying this is cool? Geez. Anyway, I live close to the Kennedy Space Center and let me tell you, a sonic boom is no joke. When the shuttles come in and you get that double boom, it literally makes your entire house shake. If you're outside you can feel the concussion in your whole body. It sounds like someone dropped a bomb a few streets over. Very very cool.
  • ZeroMP, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I guess I can close digg now since this will be the coolest thing I'll see all day.
    Nice.
  • webtekie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I my home town - Tashkent (Uzbekistan) it was OK for airplanes to fly over cities breaking sound barrier; don't know why, so it was very common for me to hear them almost everyday.
  • mindsnare, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1makes me look forward to the Airshow in Melbourne Australia in Feb, whoo
  • Nar1117, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@brstilson

    Actually, gravity is the weakest force out of the four forces of the universe: Electromagnetic (light is an EM wave/particle), Strong force (which holds nutrons and protons together in the nucleus of an atom), Weak force (which contributes to quarks and gluons and all that nonsense), and then theres Gravity.

    Quite right, we know the least about Gravity. Is it a wave like the EM force? Is it a particle, similar to the strong and weak forces?

    We think, based on special relativity, that spacetime is curved, and thus gravity is a derivation from the curvature of spacetime. Similar to a marble on taught sheet, it creates a dimple. Im sure most of you have heard of this analogy before. But what actually carries gravity? Some say gravitons, invisible, massless particles... but who knows. Welcome to the front lines of physics.

    Its also quite interesting that as you approach the speed of light, distances increase, time slows down, and mass increases. Weird stuff.

    Anyway, this has nothing to do with the pictures, which I love seeing. I especially like the 3rd video, where you can see the shock cloud forming and re-forming. Pretty cool.
  • bioskope, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1if this hasnt been addressed already but I believe they did mention something in that article about the condensation cloud not being related to the aircraft breaking the sound barrier. It even shows a picture of a B-12 stealth bomber which doesnt even fly at that speeds with the cloud formation around it to illustrate the point.
  • wolfkeeper, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1No, you div- I said the air was going supersonically. Prat.
  • josegutz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Dude, it's hard to be a caveman nowadays.
  • vroom101, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11. Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems B-2 Spirit video with a few frames showing the stealth bomber forming the "vapor cone", ie, a Prandtl-Glauert cloud:

    http://www.is.NorthropGrumman.com/videos/b2_tx.wmv
    via http://chamorrobible.org/gpw/gpw-20040818.htm under "Videos"

    2. Here's another photo of the B-2 with a Prandtl-Glauert cloud:

    http://www.bugimus.com/stealth/b2-0.jpg
    via "B2 Spirit Stealth Bomber Gallery", http://www.bugimus.com/stealth/stealth.html
  • LarianLeQuella, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Not suspended. Maybe if he's an AF pilot he'll get some "remedial training" and a Form 8 out of it depending on the conditions. Or if it happens over water in a training range, he gets a cool callsign like "Sonic" (i.e. my current boss is an F-15 driver that did it by accident, thankfully no Form 8 was generated that time).
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Who the hell takes these pictures?
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1dude, people are always going to believe that the Prandtl-Glauert condensation cloud always means the plane is breaking the sound barrier. people don't take the time to read and understand concepts. you just have to assume everyone is stupid, because they are.
  • vroom101, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1(supersonic fighter / transonic fighter) + 2 x the-sonic-boom + Prandtl-Glauert singulairty + video_camera = cool video

    http://digg.com/videos/educational/F_14_Tomcat_The_Drummer_has_style_BOOM_BOOM_and_rhythm_too
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