Question

When you hear a sonic boom, you often cannot see the plane that made it. Why is that?

a) Plane is too high
b) Plane is too fast
c) Plane is too low
d) Sonic booms are silent

Answer 1

When you hear a sonic boom, you often cannot see the plane that made it because the shock wave has already passed by. Sonic booms are created by objects moving faster than the speed of sound, and the interference of sound waves forms a disturbance that produces the sonic boom.

Step-by-step explanation:

When you hear a sonic boom, you often cannot see the plane that made it because the plane has already passed by before the shock wave reaches you. The shock wave, or the sonic boom, is created when an object moves faster than the speed of sound. The interference of sound waves along the lines of the shock wave forms a disturbance that can be heard as a sonic boom.