If you are riding in a supersonic aircraft, what do you hear? Explain. In particular, do you hear a continuous sonic boom? Why or why not?

In the question, it is given that the aircraft is supersonic aircraft.

A sonic boom is a sound heard when a moving object has a velocity more than the value of the velocity of the sound wave moving in the same medium. 1 Mach is equal to 343 m/s, which is the speed of the sound waves.

When the aircraft is moving with a velocity that has a value greater than 768 mi/h, it is a supersonic aircraft.

Pressure waves are being generated when a supersonic aircraft is moving in the air. These waves will compile as they don’t get enough time to move away if a new wave wants to take their place, and the complied waves will behave as shock waves, and we will hear a loud sound. That sound is a sonic boom.

The sonic boom, it is not a continuous event. When these waves are combined and move vertically to the surface of the earth, we hear a loud sound. If we are in that influenced region, we hear the sound, but the speed of the aircraft is fast enough that we hear the sound, and we move away fast enough from the affected region, new shock waves will be generated, and then we hear another sound as we are in the next affected region. Thus, it will sound like firecrackers, but those will be loud.

Thus, the sound we hear when we are riding a supersonic aircraft is a sonic boom. We don’t hear a continuous sonic boom as our position changes fast enough to stay in the affected area for a longer time to hear waves making a continuous sonic boom, which they don’t make as the new waves are generated in a different region now.