On May 20, 2020, the ‘loud sound’ heard in Bengaluru was revealed to have emanated from an Indian Air Force test flight involving a supersonic profile. The sound effect caused due to such high-speed flights is known as ‘sonic boom’.
- According to the NASA, a sonic boom is a thunder-like noise a person on the ground hears when an aircraft or other type of aerospace vehicle flies overhead faster than the speed of sound, or “supersonic.”
- Air reacts like fluid to supersonic objects. As those objects travel through the air, molecules are pushed aside with great force and this forms a shock wave, much like a boat creates a wake in water. The bigger and heavier the aircraft, the more air it displaces.
