Growing up I always thought a sonic boom was something that happened once when you broke the speed of sound.
I now understand that's not the case, but still don't quite know what it is. I think a supersonic aircraft is constantly "dragging" a boom behind it. So when it passes overhead sometime later you'll hear a boom. Is that right? Does that mean you'll see a plane flying overhead, hear the normal drone associated with it, but at one particular moment here a distinctly louder but shorter noise?
And is this a real thing that can be done? How do you make the sonic boom go away? As someone who lives where planes are flying overhead constantly, can it be used to make non-supersonic planes quieter, too?
I now understand that's not the case, but still don't quite know what it is. I think a supersonic aircraft is constantly "dragging" a boom behind it. So when it passes overhead sometime later you'll hear a boom. Is that right? Does that mean you'll see a plane flying overhead, hear the normal drone associated with it, but at one particular moment here a distinctly louder but shorter noise?
And is this a real thing that can be done? How do you make the sonic boom go away? As someone who lives where planes are flying overhead constantly, can it be used to make non-supersonic planes quieter, too?