In the 1940s, the proper design techniques and aerodynamic details for a successful supersonic aircraft were unknown. It was described as hitting an invisible wall. Why did people believe the sound barrier was a physical wall?ĭuring World War II, pilots reported aircraft tearing apart and instruments freezing when they dove during combat - possibly at the moment they approached the speed of sound. It’s approximately 770 mph or 1,239 kmh at sea level. The speed at which you break the sound barrier depends on many conditions, including weather and altitude.
At what speed do you break the sound barrier? The moment an aircraft’s speed exceeds the speed of sound, it is said to have broken the sound barrier. Today, we know that the sound barrier is the sudden increase in aerodynamic drag that happens when an object approaches the speed of sound - also known as Mach 1. Where did these ideas originate? Here’s a quick primer on the sound barrier. Until Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier on October 14, 1947, it was a commonly-held belief that exceeding the speed of sound - breaking the sound barrier - would destroy an aircraft. It wasn’t long ago that people believed the sound barrier was a physical barrier, a real yet invisible wall.
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