Thought this is kinda cool, your science lesson for the week.... [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-d9A2oq1N38&feature=player_embedded[/ame]
Contrails are water vapor that condense based on local atmospheric conditions. They are combustion by-products. Matt
The sonic boom you hear as the plane passes over actually follows it along the ground as long as the plane is at Mach 1. This can cause damage to objects on the ground and was a factor with the Concorde. I believe that it was no allowed to go super sonic while in U. S. air space. Jim
That was the fear however unless the plane is traveling a few hundred feet above the ground a sonic boom isn't likely to cause any major damage, just be a nuisance to people on the ground as far as having to hear that. http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/mythbusters-sonic-boom/
You are correct regarding major damage, however they will rattle dishes and move soda machines just a bit. Jim
THink about it... there's conservation of energy to think about. The intensity of the shock wave at the plane has to decrease as you get farther from the path of the plane. Otherwise it would take more and more energy to propogate the wave as you got further and further from the path of the plane. What's interesting is that the engine noise we used to think of as normal would now be considered very, very unacceptable. Matt