The physics of a sonic boom.

By looking at the wake of a boat it helps you understand how sonic booms occur. If you toss a pebble in a pond, little waves will form in concentric circles and move away from the point of impact. If a boat travels through the pond at 5 to 8 kilometers per hour, little waves will move away in the same way both ahead of and behind the boat, and the boat will travel through them. If …

…dramatically. A plane traveling at 30,000 feet in the air must travel much faster than a plane traveling at sea level to create a sonic boom. The lower the plane the slower it needs to go to travel faster than the speed of sound. Bibliography www.phy.ntnu.edu.tw/java/airplane/airplane.htm http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4219/Chapter3.html http://oea.larc.nasa.gov/news_rels/2000/00-008.html Encarta 1999 encyclopedia World book 2000 Word Count: 520