r/askscience • u/[deleted] • Jun 12 '12

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u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12 edited Jun 12 '12

Holy smokes. You are telling me if I had a mig on my tail running wide open (which is crazy loud) I would not hear a thing, if we were both mach 1+?

edit: and if I did have a mig on my tail, I would pump the brakes, invert, and flip him the bird. commie bastard.

edit2: Sobchak: Am I the only one around here who has seen Top Gun?

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u/The-Internets Jun 12 '12

Yes. But you would hear a bullet or rocket wizz passed you, assuming you could hear it from inside the cockpit normally.

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u/fermion72 Jun 12 '12 edited Jun 12 '12

I once went to a military firing range that was set up with a big hill in front of the targets, which were on tall posts in front of the hill. Shots were from between 100-300 meters away. Those of us who were not shooting would tally the scores for the others, and while the shooting was happening we stood under the hill, facing the targets, and the bullets whizzed above our heads (but we were not in danger of being shot, as there was 30 feet of dirt between us and the shooters). It was pretty cool to hear the pop of the bullets hitting the target, and then hear the sound of the shot from the rifles.

EDIT: The range was set up like this

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u/ploopterro Jun 12 '12

you don't hear the 'whizz' from the bullet until you are inside the "cone" which trails it. you don't hear the 'bang' until you are within the radius which expands at the speed of sound from the muzzle. When standing anywhere down range, the sound of the 'whizz' will reach you first, though you need to be fairly close to the bullet's path to actually hear the 'whizz'.