Have you ever heard a loud "boom" sound as an airplane flies overhead? What you heard was the sound of the breaking the sound barrier. A sonic is an explosive sound made when an travels faster than the speed of . How does this work and what a pilot named Chuck Yeager have to with the sound barrier?
First, let's to the airplane in the sky. As the moves through the air, it pushes molecules out of the way. This process creates waves, which consist of an uncompressed air. They spread out from the in all directions. This process is to the ripples that you make you toss a pebble in a .
Imagine the airplane getting faster and , intil it surpasses the speed of . At this point, the air pressure build up in front of the plane and , or squeeze together, to form shock . The process is easier to understand you picture the waves that build up at the of a fast-moving boat.
The waves move away from the plane, toward the . You hear the boom because of a in pressure when the shock wave your eardrums. The larger the aircraft , the louder and stronger the shock are.
What does Chuck Yeager have to with this? Chuck was the first to fly faster than the speed of . He was trained as a fighter and later became a test pilot. He selected for the flight becauses of his flying skills, his calmness under pressure, and his to recognize and handle aircraft problems during .
The plane in which he broke the sound was designed for maximum speed and had a engine. Because of its limited fuel, it carried to a flying altitude in the of another aircraft and dropped into the .
Years later Chuck trained U.S. military candidates. He remained the top test for the military for many years, more than three hundred new types of . He had some closse calls, including control of one airplane that spun, , and flipped for fifty seconds before Chuck land it safely. On another flight, he out of a plane and was when the plane exploded.
Chuck is of the most decorated pilots of time. He has received the two honors that can be given to person in the United States: the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. years after he made his historic , Chuck made his last flight as a test pilot. He flew and F-15 , and, yes, he broke the sound .