# How fast would something have to travel to damage a building by passing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 15, 2023, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-would-something-have-to-travel-to-damage-a-building-by-passing/979832 "2023-02-15T14:40:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2023, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-would-something-have-to-travel-to-damage-a-building-by-passing/979832/1 "2023-02-15T14:40:28Z")
I’ve seen movies where a plane could cause windows to shatter or a building to shake by flying close. So what speed would be needed to cause actual damage by tearing past? ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2023, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-would-something-have-to-travel-to-damage-a-building-by-passing/979832/2 "2023-02-15T14:44:06Z")
Generally anything over Mach 1 is going to create a sonic boom, which would have those effects. You don’t even have to fly all that close either, a sonic boom can cause damage on the ground when the plane is at thousands of feet. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2023, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-would-something-have-to-travel-to-damage-a-building-by-passing/979832/3 "2023-02-15T15:36:21Z")
A Brazilian fighter jet went supersonic during a ceremony and shattered the windows of the Supreme court building: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/43Kl7c2yU3g/hqdefault.jpg "FAB F-2000 MIRAGE Break Glass with Sonic Boom Sounds") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43Kl7c2yU3g) During a subsonic low-altitude pass, the downwash from the wings (especially during a high-g pullup) can create violent ground-level winds. Here you can see a Blue Angels low-level “sneak pass” with a high-G pullup that blows beachgoer’s umbrellas away: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/jXoei1krXGo/hqdefault.jpg "Blue Angels Fly By Launches Beach Tents Into The Air") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXoei1krXGo) Here’s a lower-speed pullup, filmed for the scene in Top Gun 2 where Maverick’s Darkstar aircraft blows the roof off of a small building at the end of the runway (the Darkstar was digitally added afterwards): [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Mi3OOgqxmbc/maxresdefault.jpg "Top Gun Maverick Roof Off!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mi3OOgqxmbc) The roof doesn’t move in this take, but the “behind the scenes” material included with the Blu Ray disc shows that for the final movie take, they had loosened the roof from the building so that the turbulence could indeed move it around. ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2023, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-would-something-have-to-travel-to-damage-a-building-by-passing/979832/4 "2023-02-15T15:59:22Z")
Needless to say, the object must also be large enough to cause building damage. A rifle bullet would make a crack sound as it goes by, but not break your home’s windows. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2023, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-would-something-have-to-travel-to-damage-a-building-by-passing/979832/5 "2023-02-16T05:21:53Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Generally anything over Mach 1 is going to create a sonic boom, which would have those effects. True enough, but if that something is a tornado/hurricane/cyclone it will cause more than just breaking windows whilst travelling much slower than Mach 1. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2023, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-would-something-have-to-travel-to-damage-a-building-by-passing/979832/6 "2023-02-16T05:30:42Z")
The **nuclear powered** [Supersonic Low Altitude Missile - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supersonic_Low_Altitude_Missile) was planned to fly at Mach 3 at _tree top_ level and would kill people and destroy wooden-frame houses just by flying overhead. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2023, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-would-something-have-to-travel-to-damage-a-building-by-passing/979832/7 "2023-02-16T16:09:06Z")
Yeah, but the OP was asking about planes. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2023, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-would-something-have-to-travel-to-damage-a-building-by-passing/979832/8 "2023-02-16T16:10:27Z")
No, I was just using it as an example. Though I can’t really think of anything else that could realistically hit the proper speeds. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2023, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-would-something-have-to-travel-to-damage-a-building-by-passing/979832/9 "2023-02-16T16:46:37Z")
Not being restricted to realistic… how about superhero? Has to do with volume of air, yes? A speeding bullet no. Would The Flash running by do it? ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2023, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-would-something-have-to-travel-to-damage-a-building-by-passing/979832/10 "2023-02-16T18:21:04Z")
Are we excluding photons and neutrinos? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2023, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-would-something-have-to-travel-to-damage-a-building-by-passing/979832/11 "2023-02-16T23:56:04Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > The **nuclear powered** [Supersonic Low Altitude Missile - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supersonic_Low_Altitude_Missile) was planned to fly at Mach 3 at _tree top_ level and would kill people and destroy wooden-frame houses just by flying overhead. And also leave everything in its wake horribly contaminated. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2023, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-would-something-have-to-travel-to-damage-a-building-by-passing/979832/12 "2023-02-17T00:39:16Z")
Oddly enough, not according the linked article. It wouldn’t leak much actual radioisotopes, and the radiation flux while substantial would be momentary at the speeds SLAM was expected to fly.