Uploaded January 2022 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Commercial airplanes now are no faster than they were in the 1960s. We’ve made advances in engines and materials and computers, so why can’t we strap fancy ultra-powerful engines to a jetliner and go from New York to LA in half the time it takes now? There are a lot of reasons and pretty much all of them are rooted in the physics of sound. To understand why the speed of sound is so important for aircraft, first we have to have a solid understanding of what sound is. Here’s everything you need to know about sound and sonic booms in our first of three episodes on supersonic flight.
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Sound is a wave that carries energy. Sound is what’s called a longitudinal wave, and it oscillates in the same direction it propagates. Sound is also a mechanical wave, meaning it needs a medium to travel through. That can be a gas like air, or a liquid, or a solid. Unlike light, it can’t travel through a vacuum. It’s why they say in space no one can hear you scream.
Anyway, sound travels at different speeds depending on the medium, moving the slowest through gas and the fastest through a solid. And its speed also changes depending on the temperature of the medium. Temperature is after all how fast molecules are vibrating, so at higher temperatures they’ll bounce off each other more quickly and sound will travel faster.
So let’s come back to the key question: why does all this matter for airplanes? Well sound, as we established, travels as air molecules bump into each other, and it moves at a finite speed. Airplanes travel, wait for it… through the air. If an airplane is flying well below the speed of sound the air ahead of it can move out of the way. But as its speed approaches Mach 1, things start to act very, very differently. Even though the plane itself may not be going the speed of sound, air passing over some parts of it like the top of the wing can go supersonic. When that happens, the air molecules get squeezed together faster than they can get out of the way, and they create a shock wave.
#Supersonic #Airplanes #ShockWave #Seeker #SeekerPlus
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Read More:
What Is Supersonic Flight?
nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/5-8/features/nasa-knows/what-is-supersonic-flight-58.html
“Vehicles that fly at supersonic speeds are flying faster than the speed of sound. The speed of sound is about 768 miles per hour (1,236 kilometers per hour) at sea level. These speeds are referred to by Mach numbers. The Mach number is the ratio of the speed of the aircraft to the speed of sound. Flight that is faster than Mach 1 is supersonic.”
Concorde
britannica.com/technology/Concorde
“Concorde, the first supersonic passenger-carrying commercial airplane (or supersonic transport, SST), built jointly by aircraft manufacturers in Great Britain and France. The Concorde made its first transatlantic crossing on September 26, 1973, and it inaugurated the world’s first scheduled supersonic passenger service on January 21, 1976.”
How the Astounding Sonic Boom Phenomenon Actually Works
interestingengineering.com/how-the-astounding-sonic-boom-phenomenon-actually-works
“The shock wave forms a “cone” of pressurized or built-up air molecules, which move outward and rearward in all directions and extend all the way to the ground. As this cone spreads across the landscape along the flight path, it creates a continuous sonic boom along the full width of the cone's base. The sharp release of pressure, after the buildup by the shock wave, is heard as the sonic boom.”
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Seeker+ is your home for deep dives, fun facts, rabbit holes, and more. Join host Julian Huguet as he unapologetically nerds out on the oddball history, astounding science and intriguing future around topics that will make you the smartest person at your next trivia night.
--
Seeker empowers the curious to understand the science shaping our world. We tell award-winning stories about the natural forces and groundbreaking innovations that impact our lives, our planet, and our universe.
Follow us on TikTok: tiktok.com/@seeker
Follow us on Instagram: instagram.com/seeker
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Commercial airplanes now are no faster than they were in the 1960s. We’ve made advances in engines and materials and computers, so why can’t we strap fancy ultra-powerful engines to a jetliner and go from New York to LA in half the time it takes now? There are a lot of reasons and pretty much all of them are rooted in the physics of sound. To understand why the speed of sound is so important for aircraft, first we have to have a solid understanding of what sound is. Here’s everything you need to know about sound and sonic booms in our first of three episodes on supersonic flight.
» Subscribe to Seeker+! bit.ly/SeekerPlusSubscribe (then hit the little 🔔 icon and select “all.“)
» Watch more! bit.ly/SeekerPlusPlaylist
» Visit our shop at shop.seeker.com
Sound is a wave that carries energy. Sound is what’s called a longitudinal wave, and it oscillates in the same direction it propagates. Sound is also a mechanical wave, meaning it needs a medium to travel through. That can be a gas like air, or a liquid, or a solid. Unlike light, it can’t travel through a vacuum. It’s why they say in space no one can hear you scream.
Anyway, sound travels at different speeds depending on the medium, moving the slowest through gas and the fastest through a solid. And its speed also changes depending on the temperature of the medium. Temperature is after all how fast molecules are vibrating, so at higher temperatures they’ll bounce off each other more quickly and sound will travel faster.
So let’s come back to the key question: why does all this matter for airplanes? Well sound, as we established, travels as air molecules bump into each other, and it moves at a finite speed. Airplanes travel, wait for it… through the air. If an airplane is flying well below the speed of sound the air ahead of it can move out of the way. But as its speed approaches Mach 1, things start to act very, very differently. Even though the plane itself may not be going the speed of sound, air passing over some parts of it like the top of the wing can go supersonic. When that happens, the air molecules get squeezed together faster than they can get out of the way, and they create a shock wave.
#Supersonic #Airplanes #ShockWave #Seeker #SeekerPlus
--
Read More:
What Is Supersonic Flight?
nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/5-8/features/nasa-knows/what-is-supersonic-flight-58.html
“Vehicles that fly at supersonic speeds are flying faster than the speed of sound. The speed of sound is about 768 miles per hour (1,236 kilometers per hour) at sea level. These speeds are referred to by Mach numbers. The Mach number is the ratio of the speed of the aircraft to the speed of sound. Flight that is faster than Mach 1 is supersonic.”
Concorde
britannica.com/technology/Concorde
“Concorde, the first supersonic passenger-carrying commercial airplane (or supersonic transport, SST), built jointly by aircraft manufacturers in Great Britain and France. The Concorde made its first transatlantic crossing on September 26, 1973, and it inaugurated the world’s first scheduled supersonic passenger service on January 21, 1976.”
How the Astounding Sonic Boom Phenomenon Actually Works
interestingengineering.com/how-the-astounding-sonic-boom-phenomenon-actually-works
“The shock wave forms a “cone” of pressurized or built-up air molecules, which move outward and rearward in all directions and extend all the way to the ground. As this cone spreads across the landscape along the flight path, it creates a continuous sonic boom along the full width of the cone's base. The sharp release of pressure, after the buildup by the shock wave, is heard as the sonic boom.”
--
Seeker+ is your home for deep dives, fun facts, rabbit holes, and more. Join host Julian Huguet as he unapologetically nerds out on the oddball history, astounding science and intriguing future around topics that will make you the smartest person at your next trivia night.
--
Seeker empowers the curious to understand the science shaping our world. We tell award-winning stories about the natural forces and groundbreaking innovations that impact our lives, our planet, and our universe.
Follow us on TikTok: tiktok.com/@seeker
Follow us on Instagram: instagram.com/seeker
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/seeker
