Bullet bow shockwave: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 06:27, 23 May 2006

Revision as of 18:54, 22 August 2006

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A '''bullet bow shockwave''' is a physical and audible wave created in the air when a [[bullet]] travels at supersonic speeds; meaning faster than the [[speed of sound]].

The bullet bow shockwave is the result of air being greatly compressed at the front-most tip of the bullet as it slices through the air. As the bullet moves forward a broadening wave of compressed air trails out diagonally from the bullet tip. The sides of the bullet create a conical waveform. This [[cone (solidgeometry)|conical]] [[waveform]] may be audible to a [[witness]] as a [[whip (implement)|whip]]-crack sound.

A bullet bow shockwave will be heard by any witness as long as the bullet speed is faster than the speed of sound, whether the bullet was fired from a weapon giving off an openly audible muzzle blast, or a mechanically-suppress-fired muzzle ([[silencer|silenced]] weapon) blast. If a bullet is fired from a silenced weapon, a witness can mistake the bullet bow audible shockwave whip-crack for the weapon muzzle blast audible wave, which is a separate, slightly preceding, audible event. It might be noted here that if one incures such an event, that the sound you hear from a silenced weapon will not be from the point of origin.