Why Is A Sonic Boom So Loud?

Supersonic commercial travel once existed but was decommissioned due to loudness. Why is breaking the sound barrier so loud?

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NASA Centers Team Up to Tackle Sonic Boom

“Since the Concorde’s final landing at London’s Heathrow Airport nearly a decade ago, commercial supersonic air travel has been as elusive as a piece of lost luggage. However, this hasn’t stopped NASA from continuing the quest to develop solutions that will help get supersonic passenger travel off the ground once more.”
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[bobohm]

The problem with passing the sound barrier did not actually have much to do with the aircraft vibrating apart, it is easy to make an airplane stronger. The primary problem was loss of control. The loss of control occurred because the shock waves that form cause turbulence behind them and this turbulence makes the flight controls ineffective, primarily the elevator. At the same time, the center of lift of the aircraft moves back, which causes the aircraft to nose down. This is the effect that occurred in the propeller driven aircraft of world war 2. They were not breaking the sound barrier, but the relative wind moving over the curved surfaces of a wing is forced to move faster than the airplane itself, so it does come close enough to the speed of sound for the shock wave to form. The big breakthrough with Chuck Yeager and the X-1 was the discovery that if you move the entire horizontal stabilizer (that's the little wing at the back of the airplane) then the shock wave does not make the control ineffective.
BTW, a large part of the reason sonic booms are so loud is the shape of the shockwave. When you look at a graph of a shock wave, the pressure spike occurs very quickly. She mentioned that scientists are trying to reduce sonic booms and one of the ways is changing the shape of the nose of the aircraft which allows the pressure spike to build slowly, which decreases the pressure buildup which also decreases the total sound level of the boom.
I'm sure someone is asking if I am just blowing hot air (pun intended). Well, no, I am not a scientist, I am an FAA certified aircraft mechanic, and I worked on the flight control systems of F-15s for the USAF while I was enlisted where we learned about the effects that I described, and I am very into the history and science of aviation. So, while my explanation, I am sure, is not the full scientific explanation, it does give a good general idea.

[ethansommer]

I flew on the Concord (B. Airways) back in the day and it was amazing. First, it flew much higher, enough that you could see the curve of the Earth. 2nd, I saw two sunsets in 1 day, flying from London just after sunset to NYC, where we "caught up" with the sun.

[sylbertcheekan]

i farted once and i sware it broke the sound barrier.

[Kumquat_Lord]

The coolest part of the F-22 is how LONG it can stay supersonic. Ita actually designed to supercruise, meaning it can fly at supersonic speeds withOUT the use of afterburners. It can completely scorch the competition just because it's able to stay at those speeds for such a long time

[Phughy]

Ok I now know everything about the sound barrier now, but why is it so loud? ...

[fredfungalspore]

This woman talks faster then the speed of sound what is she on ? speed

[deathgrind]

What she didn't tell you: When a jet travels at the speed of sound the sound waves accumulate and essentially pile up in front of the craft. When someone else is stationary outside that wake and in hearing range they hear the sound waves all at once and it sounds like an explosion followed by the "normal" noise of the jet engines. It's basically like a sound tsunami.

[hatikvah]

@Robert Ohm, your explanation about supersonic speed effects is very accurate, and your description of the effects and feel of the shockwave while flying a jet at supersonic speeds are valid. Having flown the T-38 aircraft for the USAF, I had the awesome opportunity of flying at supersonic speeds. As Robert described earlier, the aircraft becomes less responsive at speeds above Mach 1, allowing the pilot to move the control stick much more aggressively because the aircraft responds less to control inputs within the supersonic flight realm. The T-38 aircraft's horizontal stabilizer is called a "Stabilator" because it combines the horizontal stabilizer with the elevator, just as the X-15 was designed. When transitioning into supersonic flight, the pilot can actually see the airspeed indicator make a little 'jump" as the aircraft passes the sound barrier because the instrument that measures airspeed is connected to the pitot tube, which is essentially an air pressure measurement instrument at the front of the aircraft--it shows the jump into supersonic speed and the associated air compression wave peak is transmitted to the airspeed indicator. Flying at supersonic speed is relatively quiet, but you can still hear the rush of the wind across the canopy.
I used to joke with my friends and family and tell them that we had to shout in the cockpit at supersonic speeds in order to hear each other because we were flying faster than the speed of sound--and they actually believed me! But in truth, the real rush of flying a jet fast is when you are near the ground going fast. And we really didn't fly above Mach 1 close to the ground. You don't sense the speed that much when flying supersonic speed at higher altitudes. Still, flying supersonic is something to tell the grandkids about.

[Fred-ydqb]

Still didn't answer the actual question about why it's loud...

[RajeshKumar-xmpc]

title of this video should be ' how fast you can read from a teleprompter'

[soumiksen]

@0:15 Amy : "Most of us will probably never go supersonic"

Eminem: "Really ?"

[psychedelicpython]

When living on an air force base in 1990 in Florida I heard the sound barrier break once that was caused by 4 or 5 fighter jets flying over our house on base. It was pretty cool! It was like the sky literally cracked opened.

[jeffschwartz]

The reason a whip cracks if you snap it correctly is because the tip of the whip (if done correctly) passes through the sound

[IronMan-qiyg]

Wouldn't mind breaking her sound barrier

[eacybl]

We live right next to an AFB, and just had two Sonic Booms outside as part of an exercise; and we looked up this video; and now my 7yo really wants to be a pilot; haha.
Thank you so much!

[sunderwood]

That was awesome, thank you for sharing, I remember hearing them regularly, you could feel them in your chest and they would make your ears water, I always marveled that the window s didn’t break

[spikymikie]

When your in the plane, you dont hear it. The sound is going slower than you are.

[pigcatapult]

I've watched this three times and still don't know why it's so loud.

[Mom-USMCRichardUSMCChristopher]

Thank you for the great explanation. It was very interesting to watch. We hope that you have a really nice day!

[RSPikachuAlpha]

“What does speed have to do with sound?”

Me: “The speed of sound...?”