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The folks over at io9.com have given us the chance to create our very own sonic boom, from the comfort of home (maybe the back yard would be safer.
It’s quite simple, really, as long as you have a grasp of advanced physics. In basic terms – “A sonic boom is the shock wave that is produced when an object breaks the sound barrier.”
Now sound, in air, can only move 700 miles per hour…but an object can be pushed much faster than this. The sound of a sonic boom you hear is the actual barrier of sound breaking. Jet fighters achieve this with mass amounts of propulsion. How can you in your studio apartment? “When someone uses a whip, they bring their arm up and then down quickly. This creates a wave, and that wave travels down the length of the whip. It takes a lot of force to make the solid handle and heavy base of the lash move fast. The end of the whip is tapered and small. Since only a little energy is lost as the wave travels down the whip, a massive amount of momentum is channeled into a very small amount of leather. The makes the whip move faster and faster the more slender the whip becomes – the tip of whip moves incredibly fast – fast enough to break the sound barrier.”
No bull whip lying about? Sure you don’t have one, you kinky freak you. How about a towel, or some bed linens? Yes, you too can break the sound barrier by whipping around a towel like LeBron was coming to town or a bed sheet to get that one-night-stand up in the morning. Get enough momentum and you will break the barrier with your Spongebob sheets.
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Tags: Articles, fighter jets, instructional, io9, sonic boom, speed of sound