BREAKING: Huge Explosion Heard in Washington, DC Reportedly Shook the Ground Like an Earthquake’
(www.thegatewaypundit.com)
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Sonic booms are a thing. It is a compression wave resulting from an aircraft flying faster than the speed of sound. The strength of the wave is measured in overpressure and is roughly proportional to air density (maximum near sea level) and Mach number. Its strength will decay inversely with the radial distance from the line of flight, so it can easily have different felt effects if someone is directly underneath, as compared to someone at a distance. A strong wave will intersect with the ground and reflect, which will cause the pressure ratio across both waves to be squared in intensity. Such a wave can easily impose a structural shock to large fixed structures, which will seem like an earthquake for all practical effects. (The blast of an atomic bomb is simply the shock wave from the nuclear detonation.)
I was in a shooting range once, and some bold fellow was using something like a .454 Casull heavy caliber revolver a few lanes away. When he let it off, it was like a half-ton safe had just dropped 3 stories next to me. I could hardly believe it (and lost all desire to shoot such a weapon). The expulsion of the supersonic cartridge combustion gases produces a shock wave at the muzzle of the weapon, independent of the shock wave from the bullet.
I grew up in SoCal near Edward's AF Base-- the game we played as kids...was that an earthquake or a jet boom? Sonic booms happened daily-- fucking phenomenal to hear/kinda see-- you see the plane and hear the boom far away- nuts! Totally could see how people would think it's an explosion
Well, explosions and sonic booms are the same thing: shock waves. If they didn't sound alike, it would be a mystery. Even very loud noise can produce shock waves, as a long-distance effect of nonlinear acoustics. This is what causes the seeming "pop & crackle" in the sound of a space launch.
And a sufficiently large overpressure can cause buildings to tremble, and a trembling building can communicate through ground shaking. All these phenomena are similar or connected.
Very true-- we got pretty good at deciphering--my dad was a Boeing engineer, we went to air shows A LOT at Edwards- that was a cool part of living there... That and 100% cotton little league uniforms LOL