User:Malcolm701/Sound barrier

This is the article I will be editing (sentences in bold is information I added)

Sound barrier

Sound Barrier

The sound barrier or sonic barrier is the sudden increase in aerodynamic drag and other undesirable effects experienced by an aircraft or other object when it approaches the speed of sound. When aircraft first approached the speed of sound, these effects were seen as constituting a barrier making faster speeds very difficult or impossible. The term sound barrier is still sometimes used today to refer to aircraft reaching supersonic flight. Flying faster than sound produces a sonic boom. When an object is moving at a supersonic speed, a Mach number is given to represent how fast it is currently moving (Eg. Mach1).

In dry air at 20 °C (68 °F), the speed of sound is 343 metres per second (about 767 mph, 1234 km/h or 1,125 ft/s). The term came into use during World War II when pilots of high-speed fighter aircraft experienced the effects of compressibility, a number of adverse aerodynamic effects that deterred further acceleration, seemingly impeding flight at speeds close to the speed of sound. These difficulties represented a barrier to flying at faster speeds. In 1947, U.S. Air Force Captain Chuck Yeager demonstrated that safe flight at the speed of sound was achievable in purpose-designed aircraft, thereby breaking the barrier. By the 1950s, new designs of fighter aircraft routinely reached the speed of sound, and faster.

History

Bullet moving at supersonic speed

Some common whips such as the bullwhip or stockwhip are able to move faster than sound: the tip of the whip exceeds this speed and causes a sharp crack—literally a sonic boom. Firearms made after the 19th century generally have a supersonic muzzle velocity. Because of this, bullets are able to travel at supersonic speeds which results in breaking the sound barrier.

The sound barrier may have been first breached by living beings about 150 million years ago. Some paleobiologists report that, based on computer models of their biomechanical capabilities, certain long-tailed dinosaurs such as Brontosaurus, Apatosaurus, and Diplodocus may have been able to flick their tails at supersonic speeds, creating a cracking sound. This finding is theoretical and disputed by others in the field.