What is a supersonic airplane?

Question

My geography teacher ask us to search it in the internet but all i could find is just some pictures and the location (WTH???)....so can anybody tell me what it is?? what kind of plane is it? does it have any special characteristic? what does it do? why can it fly higher than an ordinary plane? etc.........

Answer 1

Its an aircraft that is capable of flying at the speed of sound or higher (sonic). It will have engines that help this such as a gas turbine engine with a variable geometry inlet, Variable throat inlet or movable plug inlet. Ramjet engines are fitted to some military aircraft with sonic capabilities. These have NO moving parts at all and are only effective at the correct velocity (speed with a direction included). The aircraft wings will usually be symmetrical and will have a positive angle of incidence.

Answer 2

An aircraft that has been designed to fly faster than 770mph is a supersonic aircraft cause the speed of sound is about 770mph if u fly faster than that then ur flying supersonic.

Most supersonic aircrafts have delta wings to cut thro air more efficiently at extreme speeds.

Answer 3

A supersonic airplane is one that can travel faster than the speed of sound.  There were 2 of these for civil use, the British Concorde and a Russian made one as well (cant remember name)

It has to fly higher in the sky to avoid major drag, the air density gets lower as you get higher in the sky.

Well it's main characteristic is that it flies faster than the speed of sound, which greatly reduced the time of air travel.

Civil flights ceased due to cost and safety issues.

Answer 4

supersonic planes are planes that go faster than the speed of sound (mach) wich is usually 760knots. when an aircraft reaches mach it creates a boom which you know as a sonicboom. these aircraft are known as subsonic planes.

some examples of subsonic aircraft are:

SR-71 Blackbird

XB-70

Answer 5

A supersonic airplane would be capable of flying at or above the speed of sound which is :

Mach 1

1,225 kilometers per hour

761.2 miles per hour

661.7 knots

The faster you approach the speed of sound, the closer you are reaching Mach 1.  (e.g. Mach .75) which is 3/4 the speed of sound.

--------------------------------------...

The speed represented by Mach 1 is not a constant; For example, it is dependent on temperature and atmospheric composition. In the stratosphere it remains constant irrespective of altitude even though the air pressure varies with altitude.

Answer 6

For all aircraft the energy lost to drag is proportional to the square of airspeed and proportional to the density of the air. Since supersonic aircraft fly faster, everything else being equal this would give very much higher drag. Supersonic aircraft avoid this by simply flying higher, where the air density is much lower.

However, as speeds approach the speed of sound, the phenomenon of wave drag appears. This is a powerful form of drag that begins at about Mach 0.8, and ends at about Mach 1.2, (transonic speeds). Between these speeds, the peak coefficient of drag (Cd) can be up to four times that of subsonic drag. Above the transonic range, Cd drops dramatically again, although it remains 30 to 50% higher than at subsonic speeds. Supersonic aircraft must have considerably more power than subsonic aircraft require to overcome this wave drag, and although cruising performance above transonic speed is more efficient, it is still rather less efficient than flying subsonically.

Another issue in supersonic flight is the lift to drag ratio (L/D ratio) of the wings. At supersonic speeds, airfoils generate lift in an entirely different manner than at subsonic speeds, and are invariably less efficient. For this reason, considerable research has been put into designing planforms for sustained supersonic cruise. At about Mach 2, a typical wing design will cut its L/D ratio in half (e.g., the Concorde vehicle managed a ratio of 7.14, whereas the subsonic Boeing 747 has an L/D ratio of 17).[1] Because an aircraft's design must provide enough lift to overcome its own weight, a reduction of its L/D ratio at supersonic speeds requires additional thrust to maintain its airspeed and altitude.

Answer 7

Supersonic means travels faster than the speed of sound.  Most military fighters and interceptors are super sonic.  There was a commercial aircraft called the Concorde developed by UK and France which traveled from NY and London exceeding Mach (the speed of sound).  It was retired following a bad accident.  The most famous supersonic plane is the SR-71 Blackbird spy plane developed by Lockheed.  It has the world speed record for a airplane and usually flies at Mach 3.  The pilots are a very exclusive  group known as Habus.  The Space shuttle is also considered an aircraft after re-entry but not a airplane as it is not under propulsion.  Its entire trip from re-entry to touchdown is simply gliding or to quote "Toy Story" falling with style.

Answer 8

Please just look up the word "supersonic" in the dictionary.

A supersonic airplane is simply one that is capable of flying faster than the speed of sound, which is about 760 miles per hour.

Answer 9

Funny, my search for "supersonic aircraft" returned 2,750,000 results !!!

It just implies that the airplane being referred to is capable of exceeding the local speed of sound. It need not be capable of flying higher than a "ordinary" aircraft, but being supersonic means that its engine(s) is/are capable of generating enormous amounts of thrust. It is the energy availability that makes them capable of feats that is not possible for some aircrafts.

Answer 10

supersonic are those planes which are faster than the speed of sound

Answer 11

its a plane that travels faster that the speeed of sound like when u see a plane go by and u see and then u hears it its because the plane has broken the sound barrier

Answer 12

A supersonic plane can travel faster than the speed of sound

I like the sound of ur geography lessons...