kids encyclopedia robot

Sound barrier facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
FA-18 Hornet breaking sound barrier (7 July 1999)
An F/A 18 aircraft breaking the sound barrier.

When an object comes closer to the speed of sound (Mach 1), air pressure changes drastically, and there will be pressure waves around the object. This pressure will rise until the speed of Mach 1 is reached. At this point, it will suddenly decrease, and a sound burst will result. The speed of Mach 1, where this burst happens, is often called sound barrier. Aircraft wings had to be redesigned, so that certain aircraft can fly at speeds faster than Mach 1.

Images for kids

  • FA-18 Hornet breaking sound barrier (7 July 1999) - filtered

    U.S. Navy F/A-18 transonic pushing into the sound barrier. The supersonic white cloud is formed by decreased air pressure and temperature around the tail of the aircraft (see Prandtl–Glauert singularity).

  • Spitfire mk11 pl965 arp

    A Spitfire PR Mk XI (PL965) of the type used in the 1944 RAE Farnborough dive tests during which a highest Mach number of 0.92 was obtained

  • MilesM52 1

    The prototype Miles M.52 turbojet powered aircraft, designed to achieve supersonic level flight

  • M52 model

    One of the Vickers models undergoing supersonic wind-tunnel testing at the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) around 1946

  • Chuck Yeager

    Chuck Yeager in front of the Bell X-1, the first aircraft to break the sound barrier in level flight

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Barrera del sonido para niños

kids search engine
All content from Kiddle encyclopedia articles (including the article images and facts) can be freely used under Attribution-ShareAlike license, unless stated otherwise. Cite this article:
Sound barrier Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.