What would be the effects to a small town of an aircraft flying close to the ground (50-100 feet) at something akin to Mach 10?

Question

Ignoring the concept that aircraft tend to use mach at higher altitudes where the air is thinner.

Answer 1

Well, the town would be completely devastated by the explosion of the aircraft.

The value of Q at Mach 10, essentially sea level, would subject the airframe to a 1000 pound per square inch (68 atmosphere) pressure.



A rail gun is expected to be able to toss its projectile at Mach 8, and those would essentially be solid metal slugs.



And then, one would have to take kinetic heating into account.

Answer 2

Mach ten or around 7600 miles an hour would cause a wake of sonic booms that would deffen people and cause damage to structures..

Answer 3

Comparable to a large bomb going off. The shock wave would basically destroy any normal building and kill any bystanders.



The effect on the plane would be similar, pretty much total destruction.

Answer 4

Since no aircraft in existence could even get close to Mach 10 at low level, (although the Space Shuttle exceeded that at high altitude on re-entry) any answer is sheer speculation.



Your guess is as good as anybody here!

Answer 5

Not that any aircraft can even come close to reaching such a speed it would be a very loud sonic boom that would result in hearing damage and LOTS of broken windows.

Answer 6

There would be lots of very annoyed people on the ground... and the government would be VERY interested in talking to the genius designer of the plane, since nobody has ever built a plane that can fly even half that fast.

Answer 7

Since no aircraft in existence can possibly reach mach 10 at such a low altitude due to friction and drag from the high air density it is a moot question. Such speeds can only be reached at high altitude.

Answer 8

Lots of glass damage - and they would not know it had been there until after it had passed.

Answer 9

MACH is simply a shorthand term for the "Speed of Sound" or "Supersonic." It has NOTHING to do with altitude.

Answer 10

Anything above the sound barrier ( Mach 1 ) and at that low altitude would be catastrophic for buildings ( shattering windows and even possible building damage ).



The long-term effects on humans is not as well known. What would be an issue is the disturbance that the sound wave produces. It would be startling, wake up those that are sleeping, be an annoyance, etc. If there are any long-term health issues, other than sleep disruptions, is what is not well-known. There are some claims that repeated exposure may lead to increased the incidence of vibroacoustic disease, a thickening of heart tissue but others dispute this claim.

Answer 11

I can't ignore the concept that this could never happen.

Answer 12

Pointless question. No aircraft can fly at even Mach 5, let alone Mach 10.