Sonic Booms 101

Royce Marcus
Jul 28, 2017 · 4 min read

Okay, so we’re on this journey to hit our own personal sonic boom. So it would probably be helpful to have a little history and science lesson on the topic, right? Don’t worry, this won’t get to sciencey. It might even be a little sexy (spoiler: there will be dinosaurs).

In, layman’s terms, a sonic boom is the sound from the resulting shock waves made when any object travels through the air faster than the speed of sound or Mach 1 (generally 767 miles per hour). If you enjoy all the nerdy science stuff, Amy Shira Teitel from Vintage Space goes a little deeper on exactly why sonic booms occur.

So, can you guess when mankind made its first sonic boom?

If you guessed test pilot Chuck Yeager, you’re wrong. If you guessed another pilot, well, you’re wrong again.

If you guessed the first bullet shot out of a gun… you’re still wrong.

The first man-made sonic boom is commonly attributed to bullwhips which may have existed since the second or third centuries AD. That crack you hear at the end of a whip is literally a bite-sized sonic boom. Crazy Right?

Even crazier, there’s some evidence to suggest that long tailed dinosaurs like the Apatosaurus and Diplodocus might have been able to flick their tail with enough velocity to create their own sonic booms.

So there were dinosaurs that potentially made sonic booms, why did it take us so long to achieve that same feat in aircraft? Well, short answer is, the ships themselves.

During World War II, where planes became a critical part of the war effort, many pilots attempted to break the sound barrier. And as strong as their wills were, their planes weren’t. Remember these were propeller driven planes primarily designed for maneuverability (jets only made their appearance at the tail end of European theater.) These planes simply did not have the power to reach these speeds. And those who attempted to gain an extra boost from controlled dives failed, sometimes with fatal results.

So with the rise of the post-war jet age, manufactures quickly realized the future of aviation depended on planes designed specifically to survive surpassing the speed of sound and the sonic boom. Otherwise the compression of the air molecules caused by the increase in speed and drag around the plane would quite literally rip the planes apart as they approached the sound barrier.

These stability problems occur in what is know as the transonic range, which lies between Mach 0.8 and Mach 1.2. When an aircraft travels within these speeds the air around the plane is partially subsonic, partially sonic, and partially supersonic. This creates a tremendous amount of drag, pressure, and turbulence. Without an aircraft specifically designed to endure these conditions the results can be catastrophic. To learn more about the transonic range, check out this video from Wendover Productions:

All this is great, but by now you’re probably asking, “What in the heck does this have to do with me and my desire to achieve more success? What’s the metaphor?”

Well, just like manufactures had to specifically design aircraft to survive breaking the sound barrier, you too need to ensure you have the proper resource to hit your sonic boom. Sonic booms are incredibly loud and disruptive events. If you’re not properly equipped they can cause a tremendous amount of damage to you and those around you.

As you approach your sonic boom and enter your own transonic range, you’re going to experience a mix of your own “subsonic air” — essentially everything that is familiar to you, your experiences, your successes, and anything else that has comprised your strategies and personalities up to that point — and your “supersonic air” — your better and higher self, whose traits and attitudes manufacture success.

When these two qualities live side by side you’re going to feel more turbulence and drag the closer you get to your sonic boom. If it feels like the whole world is pushing back and you’re up against a tremendous amount of pressure or friction: KEEP GOING. You’ll never break your sound barrier by slowing down.

My intention isn’t to scare you off. In fact, just the opposite. I want us to arm ourselves as best we can as we rebuild ourselves. Success, will not come easy. And if it does, it means you’re not working hard enough to hit your true sonic boom.

So, continue to follow Our Sonic Boom on here as well as on Facebook and Instagram at “OurSonicBoom” so we can document our journey together. And look out for the next blog where we’ll discuss how we know when we’ve hit our sonic boom.

Flying fast,

-RM

Post-Blog Workshop:

  1. If you tried to go supersonic today, do you think you could survive the sonic boom? What are some ideas you can implement to build a stronger vehicle to make this journey smoother.
  2. Have you felt any turbulence or drag that is coming from your “transonic zone?” If so, what are some traits you or attitudes you need to sacrifice to go supersonic?
Royce Marcus

Written by

What’s your sonic boom? FB: https://www.facebook.com/oursonicboomblog/ IG: our.sonic.boom LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roycemarcus/

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