Log out Go to App
Go to App

Learning Materials

Features

Discover

Chapter 14: Problem 15

Why can a boat easily produce a shock wave on the water surface, while only a very high-speed aircraft can produce a sonic boom?

Short Answer

Expert verified
A boat can easily produce a shock wave on the water surface while a high-speed aircraft can produce a sonic boom due to the differences in the density of the two mediums. Since water is denser than air, it offers more resistance to the movement of the boat, generating waves easily. However, air, being less dense, offers less resistance to the aircraft's movement, thus requiring the aircraft to move at very high speed to generate a sonic boom.

Step by step solution

01

Understand wave propagation

Wave propagation is different in different media. In water, waves travel at low speed. This is because water is a denser medium than air. The speed at which waves travel is directly proportional to the square root of the tension or elasticity divided by the inertia (mass per unit length). Therefore, lesser the density (lower inertia), faster is the propagation of waves.
02

Understand the behavior of boats and aircraft

When a boat moves on the surface of water, it easily generates waves because the water's density offers resistance against the boat's movement, generating waves. On the other hand, an aircraft requires to move at high speed in order to produce a sonic boom in the air because air is a less dense medium and thus offers lesser resistance to the aircraft's movement.
03

Conclude the differences

The primary factor here is the difference in densities of the two media and the corresponding speed of waves in them. It's easier for a boat to produce a shock wave on the water surface as water offers more resistance due to its density. However, an aircraft in the air must be moving almost with the speed of sound (or sometimes even more) to create a sonic boom due to lesser resistance from air.

Unlock Step-by-Step Solutions & Ace Your Exams!

  • Full Textbook Solutions

    Get detailed explanations and key concepts

  • Unlimited Al creation

    Al flashcards, explanations, exams and more...

  • Ads-free access

    To over 500 millions flashcards

  • Money-back guarantee

    We refund you if you fail your exam.

Start your free trial

Over 30 million students worldwide already upgrade their learning with Vaia!

One App. One Place for Learning.

All the tools & learning materials you need for study success - in one app.

Get started for free

Most popular questions from this chapter

A rope is stretched between supports \(12 \mathrm{m}\) apart; its tension is \(35 \mathrm{N} .\) If one end of the rope is tweaked, the resulting disturbance reaches the other end 0.45 s later. Find the total mass of the rope.

You see an airplane \(5.2 \mathrm{km}\) straight overhead. Sound from the plane, however, seems to be coming from a point back along the plane's path at \(35^{\circ}\) to the vertical. What's the plane's speed, assuming an average sound speed of 330 ms?

Two waves have the same angular frequency \(\omega,\) wave number \(k\) and amplitude \(A\), but they differ in phase: \(y_{1}=A \cos (k x-\omega t)\) and \(y_{2}=A \cos (k x-\omega t+\phi) .\) Show that their superposition is also a simple harmonic wave, and determine its amplitude as a function of the phase difference \(\phi\)

You're a marine biologist concerned with the effect of sonic booms on plankton, and you need to estimate the altitude of a supersonic aircraft flying directly over you at 2.2 times the speed of sound. You hear its sonic boom 19 s later. Assuming a constant \(340 \mathrm{m} / \mathrm{s}\) sound speed, find the plane's altitude.

Ripples in a shallow puddle propagate at \(34 \mathrm{cm} / \mathrm{s}\). If the wave frequency is \(5.2 \mathrm{Hz}\), find (a) the period and (b) the wavelength.
See all solutions

Recommended explanations on Physics Textbooks

Quantum Physics

Read Explanation

Force

Read Explanation

Electric Charge Field and Potential

Read Explanation

Kinematics Physics

Read Explanation

Torque and Rotational Motion

Read Explanation

Turning Points in Physics

Read Explanation
View all explanations

What do you think about this solution?

We value your feedback to improve our textbook solutions.

Study anywhere. Anytime. Across all devices.

Sign-up for free