The FTL Sound

[Shadow Rider]

Alright, so obviously the really loud sound whenever a ship jumps is added for our benefit. However, do you think that a sound aside from the sudden rush of air is made and would they hear it in the ship? I seem to remember a sound when Galactica jumped in the atmosphere of New Caprica...but was that just the sound of a sudden vacuum of air being created, so that doesn't answer my question. ^_^

[Stairway]

Something like a sonic boom perhaps?

[Osprey]

ahem, ftl jumps are generaly made from one point of space to another -- deep space --where THERE IS NO ATMOSPHERE TO MAKE SOUND!

hence, no, the folks on the ship during a regular ftl jump wil hear nothing except mebbe the ftl drives' noise ...

[Sgt Teta]

The sound heard on New Caprica on jumping will be a sonic boom, the air will rush together at +/- 5 km/s, well over the speed needed to create a sonic boom.

[genji2000]

The sound heard on New Caprica on jumping will be a sonic boom, the air will rush together at +/- 5 km/s, well over the speed needed to create a sonic boom.

Does "+/-" mean "approximately", "give or take"?

[Sgt Teta]

yeah sorry, its just shorthand for "plus or minus", "give or take"

[genji2000]

yeah sorry, its just shorthand for "plus or minus", "give or take"

Ah, that's why I misunderstood some of your earlier posts - I've always used "+/-" to mean a specific variation, e.g. a task takes 60 seconds +/- 5 seconds (therefore 55 to 65 seconds), rather than just standing alone as a form of "approximately".

[Sgt Teta]

Ahhh gotchya!!

Well, im not going to do the gas equation, but if we say:

the speed of sound is 0.3403 km/s
and the speed of gas rushing into the created vaccum is 5 km/s

the gas is going easily fast enough to create a sonic boom, the question is, can you create a sonic boom with JUST gas, i dont know. Thunder is a sonic boom, and thats just moving electrons...

The sound may perhaps just be the gas recoiling after it has rushed in, the pressure will go incredibly high for a second, causing the gas to rush back out again, which may be whats causing the sound.

[Spongey]

Since sound exists in any medium (such as gas), it is possible to break the speed of sound as long as there is an atmosphere. Of course, the speed itself varies with many parameters, such as pressure, temperature, density, etc... But I imagine that if an object suddenly disappears it could easily create a vacuum that would cause a rush of air fast enough to cause a shock wave fast enough to break the sound barrier. These show waves would probably collide in the center of the vacuum and rebound outwards.

But in space, since there is no atmosphere, there would be no sound barrier to break. Only inside the ship the crew would be able to hear anything. And that sound would probably only be the FTL drive spooling up.

[Sgt Teta]

Ahhhh, it's like my A-levels all over again!