# Why all the fuss over a sonic boom?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-all-the-fuss-over-a-sonic-boom/347107
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 5, 2006, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-all-the-fuss-over-a-sonic-boom/347107 "2006-03-05T04:30:50Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@fortytwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fortytwo)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2006, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-all-the-fuss-over-a-sonic-boom/347107/41 "2006-03-07T12:53:14Z")
> [@slaphead](#):
>
> …What it would have been like if they lit the reheaters at low altitude I can’t even imagine. :eek:
Concorde used its afterburners on take off and having worked at Heathrow during the era of Concorde’s life I can confirm that there was never any doubt when it was taking off. The glow from the exhaust and the noise made a pretty eye catching display though.
The engines (Olympus 593 turbojets) were tested in part on the Vulcan which seems appropriate given the [similarity of the airframe shape](http://personal1.iddeo.es/aviacion/interes/Vulcan.jpg)
On preview I see you beat me to it **Pjen** … but I have a picture!
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### Author:  [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2006, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-all-the-fuss-over-a-sonic-boom/347107/42 "2006-03-07T14:17:07Z")
I grew up in Oshkosh Wisconsin, home to a very large airshow each summer. The Concorde SST was a regular visitor and I can confirm that it was an incredibly loud aircraft.
Sometime in the late 80s the Italian Aerobatic team, Frecce Tricolori, was at the airshow and one of the jets accidentally went supersonic during the routine. It cracked 3 windows at the home of one of my friends that lived next to the airport, so broken windows are a definite danger.
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### Author:  [@Fish\_Cheer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish_Cheer)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2006, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-all-the-fuss-over-a-sonic-boom/347107/43 "2006-03-07T14:41:40Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#):
>
> The sonic boom doesn’t happen when the plane takes off. It starts when the plane passes the speed of sound and continues as long as the plane is flying at that speed. In other words, everything in the path of the plane gets the boom every time the plane flies over.
I think this bears repeating. I for one had thought for years that there only was one boom at the time the aircraft passes the speed of sound and that’s it.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2006, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-all-the-fuss-over-a-sonic-boom/347107/44 "2006-03-07T22:21:55Z")
> [@](#):
>
> There were some scientists who believed that flying through the sound barrier was impossible, just as there were some that believed the first atomic bomb might start a chain reaction that would consume the Earth.
Untrue on both counts. All scientists knew that supersonic flight was possible. Some engineers thought that it might be sufficiently difficult to be impractical. And some scientists were sufficiently curious about the possibility of the atmosphere igniting from an a-bomb that they did the calculations. On seeing the results of the calculations, they then knew that an a-bomb would not ignite the atmosphere.
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### Author:  [@noskcire001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/noskcire001)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2011, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-all-the-fuss-over-a-sonic-boom/347107/45 "2011-11-26T18:16:37Z")
> [@T\_SQUARE](#):
>
> So, I was on a Concord today, in fact, I was on 2 concords today (Paris air and space museum.) Not all that, I guess it was OK. But researching the plane after I got home as well as the Russian answer and the Boeing proposed answer, it seems people in that day were terrified of sonic booms. Now at first I thought, sure, no one wants to be around an airport were there are air booms going off all the time, kind of like no one wants to live next to that dude with the drum set. But, from what I can gather, it’s different than just the noise. People were really scared of sonic booms! Why? Was there any validity to this? Did they think the atmosphere would implode or what?
I was on a carrier in Norfolk, VA when we were having a change of command for the Captian. Six Navy jets were to fly over the ship at the close of command change at a speed just under the sound barrier. During practice all went well, but on the day of the event the weather changed. I had worked all night setting up chairs for the event, and was sleeping when the six planes flu over. Because of the weather change all six planes broke the sound barrier. I was totally knocked out of my bunk onto the deck, but the real damage was the Navy had to pay for the replacement of thousands of windows.
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### Author:  [@MannyL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MannyL)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2011, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-all-the-fuss-over-a-sonic-boom/347107/46 "2011-11-26T19:44:02Z")
Does a zombie breaking the speed of sound make a boom?
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### Author:  [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2011, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-all-the-fuss-over-a-sonic-boom/347107/47 "2011-11-26T20:14:00Z")
> [@asterion](#):
>
> Every once in a while, there’s a sonic boom in Albuquerque. I believe that, when they do occur, it’s from things coming north from White Sands and not somebody getting speed happy in a National Guard F-16 from Kirtland.
I was in Alamogordo (right by White Sands) a few weeks ago. My clock radio alarm went off just in time for the weather report. Included with the temperatures and whatnot: “Possibility of sonic booms from 9 am to 6 pm.” Didn’t hear any, but I got a laugh out of that.
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### Author:  [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2011, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-all-the-fuss-over-a-sonic-boom/347107/48 "2011-11-26T20:23:13Z")
How high would a supersonic plane have to fly for the sonic boom not to be significantly felt by people and windows?
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### Author:  [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2011, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-all-the-fuss-over-a-sonic-boom/347107/49 "2011-11-26T20:36:51Z")
> [@MannyL](#):
>
> Does a zombie breaking the speed of sound make a boom?
it’s called a zomboom.
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### Author:  [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2011, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-all-the-fuss-over-a-sonic-boom/347107/50 "2011-11-26T21:18:09Z")
> [@T\_SQUARE](#):
>
> Sure, I’ve heard a sonic boom. From military aircraft when I was younger. I can certainly see why you wouldn’t want to hear that all the time, day or night. I just couldn’t tell if opposition was a quality of life issue (loud noises are annoying) or some other fear (sonic booms will ignite the atmosphere, or at best a mind control method).
>
> I am not trying to say that sonic booms are not bothersome or that all air travel should be super sonic. I was just attempting to determine the basis of the opposition by the public at the time.
>
> Thanks for the links and posts.
I heard them locally on 9/11 and I heard one out west while under a natural bridge. They rattled windows pretty severely and I was worried that the natural bridge was going to loosen the rocks above me. It was a substantial shock wave.
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### Author:  [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2011, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-all-the-fuss-over-a-sonic-boom/347107/51 "2011-11-26T22:26:10Z")
One of the last test missions I flew involved a supersonic release of a certain weapon over one of the land ranges. To obtain the data needed from the test mission, we had to track the bomb all the way to the ground. So we come ripping down the chute with our asses on fire in a pair of F-15s (the lead airplane was an F-15E, sometimes known as a Mud Hen because it is intended for air to ground bombing), release the bomb, and then Lead pulls up to get out of our way as we follow the bomb, and in the process we dragged the nose of of a supersonic fighter in damn near a full circle. Shattered windows all over the area. Switchboards at the base lit up with angry callers, and many claims for damages were filed. I remember hearing some farmer filed a claim claiming his cows would no longer produce milk…dunno how that turned out.
Other times, we’d buzz boats in the Gulf of Mexico. One particular boat was suspected of being a Russian spy vessel, so we gave him a free air show—lots of booms for Ivan.
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### Author:  [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2011, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-all-the-fuss-over-a-sonic-boom/347107/52 "2011-11-26T23:54:11Z")
> [@MannyL](#):
>
> Does a zombie breaking the speed of sound make a boom?
I think that **nockcire001** is a necromancer.
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### Author:  [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2011, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-all-the-fuss-over-a-sonic-boom/347107/53 "2011-11-27T00:28:58Z")
> [@slaphead](#):
>
> I seem to remember that concorde ran with four afterburning turbojets, whereas nowadays all civil jets run turbofans, mainly for fuel-efficiency reasons. I have been in Osterley under the Heathrow flightpath when Concorde went over and it was staggeringly loud. Imagine having two F15s coming over your house wingtip-to-wingtip on a daily basis for a good idea of how local residents experienced Concorde. What it would have been like if they lit the reheaters at low altitude I can’t even imagine. :eek:
I used to live under the flightline for NOB Norfolk. other than the ability to sleep through anything, and to ID most Navy planes by sound, there is nothing like that 0500 [C-5](http://www.lockheedmartin.com/products/c5/) flight going out every [morning](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvNwiczJ69k)…
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### Author:  [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2011, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-all-the-fuss-over-a-sonic-boom/347107/54 "2011-11-27T01:11:18Z")
> [@MannyL](#):
>
> Does a zombie breaking the speed of sound make a boom?
Zombie Chunkin’! Moooooooooooaaaaaaaaannnnnnnn \
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### Author:  [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2011, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-all-the-fuss-over-a-sonic-boom/347107/55 "2011-11-27T02:53:36Z")
> [@Oakminster](#):
>
> …
>
> Other times, we’d buzz boats in the Gulf of Mexico. One particular boat was suspected of being a Russian spy vessel, so we gave him a free air show—lots of booms for Ivan.
The Israelis, I read somewhere, used to fly runs over Gaza just to scare the bejesus out of people and remind them who they were dealing with.
The concussion and sound, as has been mentioned above, is all the more intense when it comes clear out of the blue (my experience, as a journalist, with Lancer and unidentified jets in Israel).
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