I live near some flight paths so a lingering sound is normal but recently somewhere else a military style jet flew over head and the sound lasted much longer at a very high volume, long after we could see it anymore – why?
In: 1
2 reasons: they emit sound in all directions, and they’re also very high up.
Because of the speed of sound, by the time the sound from a plane has reached you it’s already moved farther on.
Even if sound moved instantly, a plane’s huge dustance from you means moving laterally doesn’t change their distance by a ton. A car on the street might be 5 feet from out at its closest (and loudest), and 500 feet from you when its out of sight. 100x the distance. A plane is maybe 30,000 feet from you at closest, and 42,000 feet from you when its 45⁰ away and halfway to the horizon. Not even 1.5x the distance.
Latest Answers