Sound travels through mediums like air, liquid, and plasma. The speed of sound varies with temperature. The sound barrier was disproved by aviators in the 20th century. The speed of sound varies with temperature, and there is no constant speed at which the sound barrier will be broken. The original problem was caused by propeller technology, but advances in aircraft design have led to dramatic improvements in controls and performance. Chuck Yeager was the first to officially break the sound barrier in 1947. Supersonic speed is now common in many aircraft. Breaking the sound barrier was a major focus of aviation, leading to modern inventions like the jet engine.
Sound travels as a wave through mediums such as air, liquid and plasma. In air, the speed at which waves travel is determined by atmospheric conditions, so the speed of sound can vary with temperature. The sound barrier is a concept developed in the early 20th century when many scientists believed that the drag of aircraft caused by approaching the speed of sound made it impossible for any aircraft to reach or exceed the speed of sound without being destroyed. Thanks to the brilliant and often reckless aviators of the day, the forbidding sound barrier concept was eventually disproved, and planes now routinely break it when reaching supersonic speed.
Since the speed of sound is based on the temperature of the medium it passes through, there is no constant speed at which the sound barrier will be broken. To give a general idea, many scientific publications list the speed of sound at 742 miles per hour (1194 kilometers per hour) based on a standard temperature of 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius). But as the temperature moves up, so does the sound the speed of the barrier increases.
The original problem that led to the sound barrier concept is a result of propeller technology. As an aircraft approaches the speed of sound, the motion of the propeller becomes disruptive to the sound waves, causing turbulence and reducing aircraft performance. It seemed clear to many early aviation innovators that an engine powerful enough to counteract the propeller problems and keep the aircraft gaining speed would be too big and heavy to operate in the first place.
However, adventurous aviators disliked the concept that there was a sound barrier that prevented even greater speeds, and many attempted to demonstrate that the barrier could be safely broken by reaching the speed of sound through extremely risky dives that would greatly increase speed. Many early attempts ended in fatalities, as airplane technology could not handle fast dives, and pilots could become ill from the steep descent and lose control of the aircraft.
Advances in aircraft design have led to dramatic improvements in the controls and performance of high-speed aircraft. By the 1940s, engineers had developed an improved tail that included a large horizontal fin to allow for greater lift and control. The first officially recognized sound barrier breaking was accomplished on October 14, 1947, by Air Force Captain Chuck Yeager. Yeager, a well-known test pilot, used a highly advanced aircraft called the Bell X-1 to reach speeds of 807.2 mph (1299 km/h) and finally break the sound barrier. Other sources credit another test pilot, George Welch, with breaking the barrier days earlier, but since no US officials were present, his flight is officially discounted.
In modern times, supersonic speed is a common ability in many varieties of aircraft. Barrier breaking has ceased to be a momentous event, although interest was re-aroused in the late 1990s when a ground vehicle broke the barrier 50 years after Yeager’s flight. However, the concept of breaking the barrier was, for a time, a major focus of aviation, leading to modern inventions such as the jet engine. The success of innovation and the boldness of what seemed like scientific certainty proved to be an inspiration to many and renewed the idea that any barrier can be broken by the bold.
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