Sonic boom, Light Boom?

When an aircraft reaches the speed of sound, a sonic boom is created; what
would happen if something reached the speed of light, would a 'light boom'
be created and what would be the effects?

Look up "Cerenkov radiation" at any suitable source available to you.
Or recall a picture of the ghostly blue shine coming from radioactive
material submerged in water.

Note: You won't see Cerenkov radiation on (near-)vacuum, for obvious
reasons.

Jan

JRS: In article , seen
in news:sci.space.science, Alan Erskine
posted at Sun, 16 Nov 2003 20:56:43 :-
When an aircraft reaches the speed of sound, a sonic boom is created; what
would happen if something reached the speed of light, would a 'light boom'
be created and what would be the effects?

Yes. Look up Cerenkov radiation; the effect is well known. Of course,
it cannot occur in a vacuum.

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Web URL:http://www.merlyn.demon.co.uk/ - FAQqish topics, acronyms & links;
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When a charged particule is traveling in a medium with a speed greater than
the speed of light in that medium, energy is dissipated through Cherenkov
radiation. This can be observed in heavy water pool where a nuclear reactor
is submerged as a blue glow.

Don't know what are the effect for uncharged particules though.


When an aircraft reaches the speed of sound, a sonic boom is created; what
would happen if something reached the speed of light, would a 'light boom'
be created and what would be the effects?

In article ,
Dr John Stockton wrote:
Yes. Look up Cerenkov radiation; the effect is well known. Of course,
it cannot occur in a vacuum.

There has actually been some speculation about whether a faster-than-light
starship would produce Cerenkov radiation in a vacuum. Of course, this
necessarily involves a certain amount of vigorous handwaving, since it's
an attempt to apply current physics to something which absolutely requires
new physics...
--
MOST launched 30 June; first light, 29 July; 5arcsec | Henry Spencer
pointing, 10 Sept; first science, early Oct; all well. |

"Alan Erskine" wrote in message . au...
When an aircraft reaches the speed of sound, a sonic boom is created; what
would happen if something reached the speed of light, would a 'light boom'
be created and what would be the effects?

There was an episode in Star Trek: The Next Generation which refered
to "chromatic detonation" when going into warp... Nice effect... But
anyway... since it's not possible to go at or over the light speed...

What would happen when you get close to the speed of light is a very
intense gamma ray radiation coming from the direction of travel, as
every single photon, proton, electron and nameitron move relatively to
the vehicule at close the speed of light. That's extreme doppler
effects! No idea how one could shield itself from this particle
bombardment, but anyway...

Even radio-waves would be shifted to higher frequencys, so you -might-
actually be able to really see the cosmic radiation background in
visual wavelenght at the right speed (could do the math but I'm lazy
today!)... Of course, you'd probably be dead or dying from radiation
sickness by that moment, so your last sight would really be The
Creation...

(Henry Spencer) wrote in message ...
In article ,
Dr John Stockton wrote:
Yes. Look up Cerenkov radiation; the effect is well known. Of course,
it cannot occur in a vacuum.

There has actually been some speculation about whether a faster-than-light
starship would produce Cerenkov radiation in a vacuum. Of course, this
necessarily involves a certain amount of vigorous handwaving, since it's
an attempt to apply current physics to something which absolutely requires
new physics...

Considering that there are a few atoms per cubic _meters_, it might be
detectable with appropriate instruments, but would certainly not be
visible...

Remy Villeneuve wrote:

Considering that there are a few atoms per cubic _meters_, it might be
detectable with appropriate instruments, but would certainly not be
visible...

The density of the ISM is on the rough order of an atom per cubic centimeter.

Paul

In article ,
Paul F. Dietz wrote:
Considering that there are a few atoms per cubic _meters_, it might be
detectable with appropriate instruments, but would certainly not be
visible...

The density of the ISM is on the rough order of an atom per cubic centimeter.

No, that's an old number. The "Local Cloud" in which we sit is about
0.07 atom/cc, and the "Local Bubble" outside that (several hundred LY
across) is down around 0.005 atom/cc.
--
MOST launched 30 June; first light, 29 July; 5arcsec | Henry Spencer
pointing, 10 Sept; first science, early Oct; all well. |