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NASA Captures The First-Ever Photos of Merging Supersonic Shock Waves

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  • NASA Captures The First-Ever Photos of Merging Supersonic Shock Waves

    Very cool!

    Two U.S. Air Force craft were traveling so fast — quicker than the speed of sound — and so close together that the shock waves emanating from the craft began to merge… and NASA was there to capture photographic proof.

    The resulting snapshots are the first-ever photos of two supersonic shock waves (pressure waves) interacting in the air. And it's quite a sight: It looks as though the atmosphere folded up into a fresh batch of laundry.

    As an aircraft travels, it pushes the air in front of it and creates waves, just like a motor boat creates waves as it moves through the water.

    But when aircraft travel faster than the speed of sound — or faster than 767 mph (1235 km/h) — it moves faster than the waves it creates. Because air molecules can't keep up with its speed, they begin to compress. This creates a rapid increase in pressure in front of the craft, resulting in a different kind of wave: supersonic shock wave. Though humans can't see these shock waves, we can hear them merging together as they move through the atmosphere as a thunder-like sound called a sonic boom.

    Click here for the link to the article...

    Click image for larger version  Name:	Capture.JPG Views:	0 Size:	89.0 KB ID:	183535


    My YouTube RC videos:
    https://www.youtube.com/@toddbreda
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