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Sound is made up of molecules of air that move. They push together and gather together to form
sound waves. Sound waves travel at the speed of about 750 mph at sea level. When a plane travels the
speed of sound the air waves gather together and compress the air in front of the plane to keep it from moving forward. This compression causes a shock wave to form in front of the plane.
In order to travel faster than the speed of sound the plane needs to be able to break through the shock wave. When the airplane moves through the waves, it is makes the sound waves spread out and this creates a loud noise or
sonic boom . The sonic boom is caused by a sudden change in the air pressure. When the plane travels faster than sound it is traveling at supersonic speed. A plane traveling at the speed of sound is traveling at
Mach 1 or about 760 MPH. Mach 2 is twice the speed of sound.
http://www.ueet.nasa.gov/StudentSite/dynamicsofflight.html