What is a Sonic Boom and how does it occur

SUPER  SONIC BOOM

Sonic boom is one of the most coolest physics phenomenon in the universe and its the amazing physics behind it that's makes it cool. These thunderous giants bewildering the sky are made usually by fast moving jet planes or some things like a whip when struck fast enough also makes a mini sonic boom and so does anything that breaks the sound barrier or the faster than the speed of sound.

You might want to know the amazing physics behind it and that's why I am here.

So lets start our way with the basics and then you know the rest.

Explanation : Lets say you are  outside or maybe you are on the roof of your house doing your thing and an aircraft starts approaching near you in the sky. Well if you pay a little bit attention you can hear the sound that the aircraft makes even when its far away from  you in the sky.

So The reason you heard the sound of aircraft approaching is because the sound which was made by the airplane travelled to you from the airplane to you as well as the speed of sound was faster than the speed of the aircraft itself and that's why the plane was farther away in the sky when you heard the sound.

Well ideally the speed of sound is around 700 miles an hour or 1220 km/h in air under normal conditions and lets say the speed of the aircraft was around 500 miles an hour.

Now lets imagine the same scenario but this time the speed of the aircraft has been increased from 500 miles an hour to 600 miles an hour, now what happens is when the aircraft will start approaching you, you will hear the sound the aircraft makes when the aircraft will be more close to you than the last case because the speed of aircraft has increased and now the speed of sound which is constant in air is only 100 miles an hour faster than the aircraft i.e. the sound is travelling at a speed of 100 miles an hour relative to the aircraft itself.

Well lets see what happens in our final level  so now the speed of aircraft is faster than the speed of sound that the aircraft itself makes and lets say the aircraft is now travelling at around 800 miles an hour which is faster than the speed of sound in air ( 700 miles an hour) . The speed of sound in air is also referred with a very cool name and there is a term for that (MACH 1). 

Now a really amazing thing happens and that is the aircraft is moving faster than the sound that itself produces so it leaves behind the sound that it makes while moving in air. The sound that it leaves behind  collects and forms a sort of cone in the air and kind of is like a big wall of sound.

Now imagine this scenario while you are outside, The plan approaches you and leaves above you going downstream and you don't notice a thing because it is moving faster than the sound that itself produces. Then you look up and see the plane after it has long gone in the sky and wonder why does it not produce sound feel its weird and then BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMM

 

The Sonic Boom occurs.