I was watching an XKCD “What-If” video recently and Randal off-handedly mentions the title fact as a given. Upon a further Google search I see explanations about why sound moves faster in liquids than gasses but nothing for my specific question. Is there an intuitive explanation for that fact or is it just one of those weird observable facts with no clear explanation
Just to add because nobody mentioned that yet… But you can always push stuff faster than the speed of sound, it will just stop being a liquid, and probably explode, but there’s no law saying the material can’t go faster.
But you can always push stuff faster than the speed of sound
Sure, but said stuff can push back at you in turn, on account of Newton’s 2nd Law. At some point, you reach an equilibrium between the force applied to the material and the reflected force due to resistance.
Might help to look up the definition of Terminal Velocity.
Terminal velocity is the maximum speed an object can reach while falling through a fluid (like air or water). It occurs when the force of gravity pulling the object down is balanced by the fluid’s resistance, or drag, pushing it up.
As the speed of an object increases, so does the drag force acting on it, which also depends on the substance it is passing through (for example air or water). At some speed, the drag or force of resistance will be equal to the gravitational pull on the object. At this point the object stops accelerating and continues falling at a constant speed called the terminal velocity (also called settling velocity).
How about firing a compressed air canon to attempt a sonic boom
Use a better search like Bing or duckduckgo next time. googol sucks and was never any good. Quit using ignorant garbage.
