As you push through the air you create waves, the same way a boat creates waves on water. The speed those waves travel at is a relatively constant number (though it shifts slightly with air pressure, temperature, etc.) These waves we typically hear as that *whoosh* sound that things make as they fly by us at high speed. If you go faster than these waves travel you can create waves faster than the air can get out of the way so the waves build on top of each other. The peak of these combined waves is so great that the *whoosh* becomes a solid *pop* the larger the object the louder the *pop*. A whip creates a little crack as it’s tip goes faster than the speed of sound. A bullet creates a larger pop as it goes faster than the speed of sound. A jet creates a boom.
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