About Sonic Booms and Quiet Aircraft

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Sonic booms are caused by the displacement of air as an aircraft travels faster than sound, not by engine noise. Even if future aircraft have noiseless, electric engines, they will still produce sonic booms due to this air displacement. The discussion highlights that the phenomenon is independent of the aircraft's noise level. Examples of shock waves from unpowered projectiles further illustrate this concept. Therefore, future quiet aircraft will still generate sonic booms when exceeding the speed of sound.
royp
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Hello,
I am having this small confusion about sonic boom. Let's talk about aircrafts of the future -say having electric, noiseless engines (suppose). Essentially, these aircrafts practically generate no noise while flying. Now, if these aircrafts can travel faster than sound, will there still be sonic boom - in terms of loud noise and shattered window-glass?
 
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Welcome to the PF. :smile:

Yes, it will still generate a sonic boom, since that is caused by the air being displaced by the aircraft as it flies, not engine noise.

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ChemAir said:
Shock waves on un-powered projectiles...
Excellent examples! :biggrin:
 
Many thanks, berkeman - for a very clear explanation!
 
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