Why are aircrafts more stable traveling faster than sound than at the speed of sound?
In: Physics
Air waves act a lot like water waves.
When on a boat, moving forward constantly creates waves. If the boat moves as fast (or just a little slower) as the waves it is creating, they will build up in front of it. Eventually the built up waves will effectively be an uphill swim for the boat, slowing it down and destabilizing the boat’s speed. It is much easier to just go a little faster, and now the build up of waves happens behind the boat.
Aircraft is almost the same, but in 3 dimensions and higher speed.
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