What is a sonic boom and what causes it?
SONIC booms can be an overload to the senses - including the eyes and ears - leaving witnesses stunned.
But what exactly is a sonic boom and what causes it?
What is a sonic boom?
A sonic boom is a noise created by the shock waves of a flying object traveling faster than the speed of sound.
It sounds like a loud explosion or thunderclap that can cause minor damage to buildings and even wake sleeping people.
The speed of sound, known as Mach 1 for aircraft, is approximately 767mph at sea level.
The noise of a sonic boom isn’t heard in all directions from the object. It is a continuous effect created while the vehicle is traveling at supersonic speeds.
What causes a sonic boom?
As an aircraft passes through the air it creates a number of pressure waves both in front and behind it, in the same way a boat creates waves at its front and back as it passes through the water.
Those waves created by the plane travel at the speed of sound and when the object goes faster than the speed of sound those waves are forced together because they cannot get out of the way fast enough.
They then form a single shock wave which creates a vapor cone with the aircraft at its tip.
There is a rise in pressure at the nose, decreasing to a negative pressure at the tail.
The sound of the boom is experienced when there is a sudden change of pressure.
A “double boom” is created – one from the initial pressure created and then another when the pressure returns to normal.
Where have sonic booms been heard?
Sonic booms have previously been reported in states like New York, New Jersey, and more.
On November 12, 2022, Space Force’s secretive X-37B made a landing at Kennedy Space Center early Saturday morning with sonic boom reports being made all across Florida.
The X-37B is a "robotic military spacecraft that looks like a miniature space shuttle," according to .
"All told, the 30-foot spaceplane spent 908 days in low-Earth orbit, shattering the previous record of 780 days," the outlet reports.
"Its purpose is largely a secret, but the Department of Defense says some of its secondary duties include hosting military research payloads, science experiments, and even NASA investigations," the outlet reports."