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dinkum commented on the word Mach 1
WORD: Mach 1
DEFINITION: The speed of sound.
EXAMPLE:
' The speed of sound, Mach 1, was known (thanks to the work of the physicist Ernest Mach) to vary at different altitudes, temperatures, and wind speeds. On a calm 60-degree day at sea level it was about 760 miles an hour, while at 40,000 feet, where the temperature would be at least sixty below, it was about 660 miles an hour. Evil and baffling things happened in the transonic zone, which began at about .7 Mach. Wind tunnels choked out at such velocities. Pilots who approached the speed of sound in dives reported that the controls would lock or "freeze" or even alter their normal functions. Pilots had crashed and died because they couldn't budge the stick. Just last year Geoffrey de Havilland, son of the famous British designer and builder, had tried to take one of his father's DH 108s to Mach 1. The ship started buffeting and then disintegrated, and he was killed. This led engineers to speculate that the shock waves became so severe and unpredictable at Mach 1, no aircraft could survive them. They started talking about "the sonic wall" and "the sound barrier." '
--- 1979. TOM WOLFE. The Right Stuff. "Chapter 3 -- Yeager." (Pages 39 - 40). Bantam Book edition (ISBN 0-553-27556-9).
January 28, 2014
dinkum commented on the word Mach 1
WORD: Mach 1
DEFINITION: The speed of sound.
EXAMPLE:
' The speed of sound, Mach 1, was known (thanks to the work of the physicist Ernest Mach) to vary at different altitudes, temperatures, and wind speeds. On a calm 60-degree day at sea level it was about 760 miles an hour, while at 40,000 feet, where the temperature would be at least sixty below, it was about 660 miles an hour. Evil and baffling things happened in the transonic zone, which began at about .7 Mach. Wind tunnels choked out at such velocities. Pilots who approached the speed of sound in dives reported that the controls would lock or "freeze" or even alter their normal functions. Pilots had crashed and died because they couldn't budge the stick. Just last year Geoffrey de Havilland, son of the famous British designer and builder, had tried to take one of his father's DH 108s to Mach 1. The ship started buffeting and then disintegrated, and he was killed. This led engineers to speculate that the shock waves became so severe and unpredictable at Mach 1, no aircraft could survive them. They started talking about "the sonic wall" and "the sound barrier." '
--- 1979. TOM WOLFE. The Right Stuff. "Chapter 3 -- Yeager." (Pages 39 - 40). Bantam Book edition (ISBN 0-553-27556-9).
January 28, 2014