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The Mach effect and supersonic flight

The diagrams below show the effect of the speed of a plane on the wave that is heard by someone standing on the ground below the flight path.



The blue cone shows the front of the sound wave. The observer does not hear the sound until part of that blue cone reaches them. By that time the plane will have already travelled past them (I have called this distance d). This distance gets bigger as the plane flies faster.





 
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© Keith Gibbs 2020