NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

A sonic boom is a loud noise caused by an object -- usually an airplane -- that is moving faster than the speed of sound. To a person on the ground, a sonic boom may sound like a clap of thunder. The noise comes from a shock wave produced by the object. A shock wave is a change in air pressure that builds up around the edges of an object that is moving faster than the speed of sound.

Image to right: A plane that flies faster than sound creates a shock wave as it cuts through the air. This painting shows how shock waves built up around the X-1, the first plane to fly faster than sound. Credit: World Book illustration by George Guzzi

Sonic booms cannot hurt people, but they sometimes break windows or crack walls. On Oct. 14, 1947, Captain Charles Yeager of the United States Air Force became the first person to fly a plane faster than the speed of sound.

How to cite this article: To cite this article, World Book recommends the following format: "Sonic boom." The World Book Student Discovery Encyclopedia. Chicago: World Book, Inc., 2005.

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