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Wave Speed of Sound Liquid Gas Plasma Fluid Pressure Temperature Density Expansion Fan Solitons Sonic Boom

A shock wave is a type of propagating disturbance that moves faster than the speed of sound through a fluid, characterized by an abrupt change in pressure, temperature, and density. Unlike solitons, shock waves dissipate energy quickly over distance as the accompanying expansion wave approaches and cancels part of the shock wave, such as the sonic boom from a supersonic aircraft. When a shock wave passes through matter, total energy is preserved but usable work energy decreases and entropy increases, adding drag on aircraft. Shock waves can also propagate through solids or fields.

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59 views1 page

Wave Speed of Sound Liquid Gas Plasma Fluid Pressure Temperature Density Expansion Fan Solitons Sonic Boom

A shock wave is a type of propagating disturbance that moves faster than the speed of sound through a fluid, characterized by an abrupt change in pressure, temperature, and density. Unlike solitons, shock waves dissipate energy quickly over distance as the accompanying expansion wave approaches and cancels part of the shock wave, such as the sonic boom from a supersonic aircraft. When a shock wave passes through matter, total energy is preserved but usable work energy decreases and entropy increases, adding drag on aircraft. Shock waves can also propagate through solids or fields.

Uploaded by

parin advani
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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A shock wave is a type of propagating disturbance.

When a wave moves faster than the speed of


sound in a liquid, gas or plasma (a "fluid", in physics terminology) it is a shock wave. Like an ordinary
wave, a shock wave carries energy, and can propagate through a medium. It is characterized by an
abrupt, nearly discontinuous change in pressure, temperature and density of the medium.[1] In
supersonic flows, expansion is achieved through an expansion fan.
Unlike solitons (another kind of nonlinear wave), the energy of a shock wave dissipates relatively
quickly with distance. Also, the accompanying expansion wave approaches and eventually merges
with the shock wave, partially cancelling it out. Thus the sonic boomassociated with the passage of a
supersonic aircraft is the sound wave resulting from the degradation and merging of the shock wave
and the expansion wave produced by the aircraft.
When a shock wave passes through matter, the total energy is preserved but the energy which can
be extracted as work decreases and the entropy increases. This, for example, creates
additional drag force on aircraft with shocks.
Shock waves can also travel through solids, or in some cases in the absence of a material medium,
through a field such as anelectromagnetic field.[citation needed]

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