BA-BAM! Whoa. The deep, loud sounds startle you. You feel a sudden jolt, and the whole house seems to rattle.
Whatever it was seemed to come from above, but what was it? Thunder? Not a chance—the sky couldn’t be more cornflower-blue. Then you notice a jet, flying so high it’s a mere white speck. You might not believe it, but that tiny blip caused the rattling booms. Soon, however, these shocking airplane noises may become sound relics, thanks to cutting-edge research.
Creating Thunder in the Sky
When an object moves through air, it pushes against the molecules in front of it. This compressed zone of air ripples out in all directions at the speed of sound. The zone is called a. While the object travels