What is the different between supersonic flight and subsonic flight? The term “supersonic” and “subsonic” are used to describe the travel speed in Mach unit in which “supersonic” is used for the speed between Mach 1 and 5 while “subsonic” is for the speed below Mach 1(Smith, 2009, para.2)When a plane is flying at supersonic speed, it is flying faster than sound. The major difference in a supersonic aircraft is the design principal. The most important thing to consider when building a supersonic aircraft is airflow: “Managing that airflow is especially troublesome as a plane approaches the speed of sound… The faster the plane travels, the more difficult it is to push the craft through the air and the more fuel the plane's engines need to fly a given distance” (Dillow, 2014). The Concorde is an example of a supersonic aircraft with is thin body and delta-shaped wings.
Figure 1: Concept of the Concorde and the TU-144. (TU-144, n.d)
Before going deep into the problem, it is important to have an overview at the history of supersonic flight. Supersonic transport or SST came into development soon after World War II. During the 50s’, there were four nations competing in this new industry: France, Britain, American, and the Soviet Union. However, there were only 3 sides in this competition as Britain and France agreed on a joint development program (Drake & Purvis, 2001, p.3). The France and Britain collaboration resulted in the legendary Concorde, the name that everyone always mention when talking about supersonic transport. In the far-east, the Soviet Union worked on a similar design to the Concorde, called TU-144. In 1968, the TU-144 had its first flight on 31 December, one year earlier than the Concorde. Meanwhile in the United Stat...
... middle of paper ...
...92.stm
P., L. L. (2011). Ailment sonic boom cure: extreme makeover of the airplane. Discover, 32(8), 40.
Smith, H. (2009, May 19). What is supersonic flight?. NASA. Retrieved April 19, 2014, from http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/5-8/features/what-is-supersonic-flight-58.html#.U1M0IFcnGSo
Supersonic dream. (2007). PBS. Retrieved April 19, 2014, from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/education/activities/3203_concorde.html
Superssonic flight ban announced. (1973, March 27). Spokane Daily Chronicle, p. 2.
The Concorde 10 years after the future ended: a visual history. (2013, October 24). Skift. Retrieved April 19, 2014, from http://skift.com/2013/10/24/the-concorde-10-years-after-the-future-ended/
Tu-144 Charger and Concorde. (n.d.). globalsecurity.org. Retrieved April 19, 2014, from http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/images/tu-144-concord-line1.gif
...Another way to decrease the disturbance over the wings are to move the wings lower than the horizontal stabilizer or visa versa to allow the shock waves moving over each wing to miss each other. Most aircraft today do not have enough fuel to maintain the speed of sound for great distances. Engineers have designed a brand new aircraft known as the F-22, which has the ability to fly an entire mission at supersonic speeds. The speed of light is unattainable by aircraft due to drag. We have no materials that could with stand the heat caused by the friction of the air moving over its body, nor materials strong enough to be able to take the enormous drag. Today there is no thrust capability that would allow for the speed of light. Although aircraft has proved such things as time dilation it is still impossible for an aircraft to travel at 900,000 miles per second.
Major Ted Tolman’s F-105 Thud fighter/bomber streaked through the air at just under the speed of sound. His aircraft performed modestly at best, struggling to maintain its speed and altitude under the heavy load of ordinance and fuel it carried under its wings (Patrick).
Contributor, E. H. (n.d.). What Is the Fermi Paradox? Retrieved October 26, 2017, from https://www.space.com/25325-fermi-paradox.html
"Impact of Wright Flyer | The Wright Flyer." The Wright Flyer. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2016.
Following World War II and the jet engine technology that emerged largely toward its end, aerospace engineers knew well that the technology had great potential for use in the commercial aviation industry. The Comet was the first aircraft to utilize jet propulsion; however, its designers failed to consider the metallurgy of the aircraft’s materials under flight conditions or the consequences of their atypical window design. The aircraft was designed by Britain’s De Havilland Aircraft Company and entered service in May 1952. After a year of service, however, the design issues mentioned above resulted in the failure of several Comet aircraft. Extensive evaluations revealed that repeated pressurization stress on the aircraft’s main cabin had caused its structure to fail.
Many people are amazed with the flight of an object, especially one the size of an airplane, but they do not realize how much physics plays a role in this amazing incident. There are many different ways in which physics aids the flight of an aircraft. In the following few paragraphs some of the many ways will be described so that you, the reader, will realize physics at work in the world of flight.
“What Is a Concussion?” What Is a Concussion? | Brain Injury Research Institute, www.protectthebrain.org/Brain-Injury-Research/What-is-a-Concussion-.aspx. Accessed 30 Jan. 2018.
Travelling at a speed twice that of sound might seem to be futuristic; however, this feat was already achieved almost 40 years ago by the world’s only supersonic passenger aircraft, the Concorde. Concorde brought a revolution in the aviation industry by operating transatlantic flights in less than four hours. The slick and elegant aircraft with one of the most sophisticated engineering was one of the most coveted aircraft of its time. However, this was all destined to end when Air France Flight 4590 was involved in a tragic disaster just outside the city of Paris on July 25, 2000. The crash killed 113 people, but more disastrous was its impact.
Hermann, Burkely. "Legacy of the Space Race." How the Space Race Fueled Innovation. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2014.
Heppenheimer, T. (2001). A Brief History Of Flight: From Balloons to Mach 3 and Beyond. Canada: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Demand for air transport is growing constantly and, if this demand is to be met with all the benefits associated, the community or society must also accept the costs like pollution, aircraft noise, environmental change, risk, and resource consumption, etc. ). Problems 1. What is the difference between a Aircraft Noise The noise of aircraft was historically a major environmental issue for the airline. It is still high on the agenda of public concern. Noise disturbance has a variety of difficult issues to assess because it is open to self-reaction.
Krock, L. (2004). Crash of Flight 111: Making Air Travel Safer. Retrieved February 17, 2005 from PBS, Nova Online website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/aircrash/safer.html
Subsequently, this kind of the long-distance effect had to occur more and more away from the position of launching to prevent self-damage. Therefore, the fulfillment of a long dream of the human race, to be able to fly, came just in time – and now, not everything that came from above was good anymore.
Tullo, A. (2001). "Cause of plane crash sought". Chemical & engineering news, 79 (48), p. 8
Currency Fluctuation, What is Currency Fluctuation, 2014. Available at: http://www.wisegeek.org/what-are-currency-fluctuations.htm Retrieved at 6th April 2014