Mythbusters

[Brando14100]

Did anyone just see the new episode featuring the Blue Angels? It was great. I was very surprized that the sonic booms can'treally break glass.

8-)

[machineman9]

I haven't seen it (no Sky TV for a while) but it sounds interesting.

Hmm, I would have thought it could. Did they basically stick a pane of glass out in the open and sonic boom it?

[Anxyous]

I'm not convinced...

The episode hasn't aired here yet, but there's been lots of reports of lots of broken windows, after the wall's been broken.

[Hagar]

I was very surprized that the sonic booms can't really break glass.

Tell that to the people living in the South of England & around Farnborough in the 1950s & 60s.

[charlesed]

5 passes, 200 feet...

Then the only thing to break is a single pane of glass from flexing too much. Odd, but it was still pretty entertaining.

[Travis]

Ahhh!  I missed it!  Have to look it up on Hulu.

Been watching this show whenever I can catch it.  One of the greatest educational shows I've ever seen.  Watching them blow things up has really brought me joy over the past few months . . .

[expat]

I was very surprized that the sonic booms can't really break glass.

Tell that to the people living in the South of England & around Farnborough in the 1950s & 60s.

You beat me to it Hagar. Although I have not seem the a for mentioned episode, I would have thought that a big factor in whether glass breaks is how it is mounted. In modern plastic window frames, the glass is able to vibrate and to a certain extent move. In the old steel frame and putty windows a pain of glass was very limited in it's ability to move. Also, as Mythbusters is a California based series, I would bet that the wall used to hold the glass was wood. Again a flexible material. Bricks and concrete and a metal frame with putty (old English way) would give another result I would have thought. However I am looking forward to seeing this episode.

Matt

Edit Just seem a brief preview on youtube, as I thought, all wooden frames, and as for the car, mounted in rubber.

[ShaneG_old]

On 9-11

[Alejandro Rhodes]

Yeah me the pain in the ..Butt

I haven't seen that episode but when this was a free country we Bough twenty ones F-16, I was in 6 grade ,the whole country were celebrating

[Steve M]

I remember the late 50's and early 60's. Had sonic booms several times a year near my place. Yes, it does break glass and scare the begeevers out of you if you aren't expecting it. Some glass breaks and some doesn't, as afore mentioned, depending on its installation and possibly its thickness. I am thinking altitude would change the effect also, the aircraft I saw were somewhere between 2 and 4 thousand feet.

[Hagar]

I was very surprized that the sonic booms can't really break glass.

Tell that to the people living in the South of England & around Farnborough in the 1950s & 60s.

You beat me to it Hagar. Although I have not seem the a for mentioned episode, I would have thought that a big factor in whether glass breaks is how it is mounted. In modern plastic window frames, the glass is able to vibrate and to a certain extent move. In the old steel frame and putty windows a pain of glass was very limited in it's ability to move. Also, as Mythbusters is a California based series, I would bet that the wall used to hold the glass was wood. Again a flexible material. Bricks and concrete and a metal frame with putty (old English way) would give another result I would have thought. However I am looking forward to seeing this episode.

Matt

Edit Just seem a brief preview on youtube, as I thought, all wooden frames, and as for the car, mounted in rubber.

As I recall a lot of the complaints were from smallholders with greenhouses. Add to that the fact that most aircraft at the time were only supersonic in a dive. The test pilots at the Farnborough displays deliberately aimed the boom at the airfield.

I can't remember where I read it now but Eric 'Winkle' Brown* told a story about when he flew the F-86 in the US. The other test pilots persuaded him to try a sonic boom over the base & gave him the exact course to fly. He was summoned to the Station Commander's office next morning & given a good talking to by the man himself. Apparently he'd shattered the glass in his greenhouse. The CO then invited him home for dinner. I don't know how true this is but it makes a good story.

*Captain Eric Brown has flown more types of aircraft than any other pilot. 487 basic types not including variants. This record is unlikely ever to be beaten. http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/AS-Interview-Captain-Eric-Brown.html

[Travis]

I haven't been able to see the episode, but I'm wondering when in it they said that a sonic boom couldn't break glass?

http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/mythbus ... speed.html

:-?

[charlesed]

I haven't been able to see the episode, but I'm wondering when in it they said that a sonic boom couldn't break glass?

http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/mythbus ... speed.html

:-?

The myth was that any sonic boom will break any glass.

That was the only window they were able to break.


edited for so many typos...

[Travis]

Well, okay.  Splitting hairs is fine, but sonic booms CAN break windows . . .

[Brando14100]

I haven't been able to see the episode, but I'm wondering when in it they said that a sonic boom couldn't break glass?

http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/mythbus ... speed.html

:-?

The myth was that any sonic boom will break any glass.

That was the only window they were able to break.


edited for so many typos...

Yes, thanks. I was about to say that. That means planes, bullets, anything going supersonic. It didn't work. They had tables full of all kinds of glass stuff set up, a car, and a small "house" set up. That one pane of glass is the only thing that they were able to break.

8-)