In the days of the Concorde — thus far the world’s only supersonic passenger jet — noise complaints from residents kept the aircraft from faster-than-sound travel except over the open Keep reading
Tag: shockwave
Dripping Impact
How does water drip, drip, dripping onto stones erode a crater? Water is so much more deformable that it seems impossible for it to wear harder materials away, even over Keep reading
Volcanic Shocks
A violent underwater eruption at the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai caldera on January 15th sent literal shock waves around the world. This animation, based on satellite images from Japan’s Himawari 8, Keep reading
Witch’s Broom
Known by many names — including the Witch’s Broom Nebula — NGC 6960 is part of a supernova remnant visible in the constellation Cygnus. The wisp-like filaments of the nebula Keep reading
Challenges of Commercial Supersonic Flight
Years ago as I sat on a plane taxiing at Heathrow, I caught a glimpse of a Concorde out on the tarmac. My classmates couldn’t understand why I was so Keep reading
Underwater Explosions and Submarines
In the early days of submarines, it did not take physicists and engineers long to discover how destructive underwater explosions can be. In this Slow Mo Guys video, Gav gives Keep reading
Breaking Bubbles
What do a nineteenth-century war ship, a sardine-hunting shark, and a viral bottle trick have in common? Cavitation! The phenomenon of cavitation occurs when a fluid is accelerated such that Keep reading
Understanding Stars’ Seismology
Our understanding of Earth’s interior is based mostly on observations of seismic waves, which travel differently through our rocky crust and the molten core. Scientists similarly use seismic waves in Keep reading
Mimicking Supernovas
The Hubble archives are full of incredible swirls of cosmic gas and dust, many of which were born in supernovas. Predicting the forms these massive explosions will generate is extremely Keep reading
Shock Waves Drive Nova Brightening
New observations of nova V906 Carinae have provided some of the first direct evidence that the observed brightening of these stellar objects is driven by shock waves. Novae form when Keep reading