Sonic Boom Photograph

The sound barrier is broken when an object moves faster than the speed of sound. Sound is essentially a set of waves. These waves travel outwards from the source of the sound. When an object moves really fast, it creates it’s own pressure waves that move super fast in all directions. Now as the object beats the speed of the sound it is creating a shock wave is created.

This shock wave is a result of a number of pressure waves layered one on top of the other. The shock wave is also called a sonic boom. Needless to say the occurrence is so sudden that the naked eye will never be able to catch it. Scientists have been working on a super quick camera which could photograph the pressure waves.

They are shaped like cones of light and are referred to as Mach cones. Researchers at Washington University have developed a camera with which it is possible to photograph and view the Mach cones as the light waves behind the sound waves form them. The graphic representation of a sonic boom is an interesting image showing small specks of light moving fast and blurred as the cone travels through them.