Breaking the Sound Barrier

10/10/2020 5:56:00 PM
Sound cannot travel through space. Image: theconversation.com

Do you know?

  • Sounds are all over the place and they happen all around us. However, sound cannot travel through space since there are no molecules to travel through.
  • When traveling through water, sound moves around four times faster than when it travels through air.

If something travels faster than sound, what do we call this phenomenon? Let's explore it!

Sound cannot travel through space. Image: theconversation.com

Listen and choose the correct answer to each of the following questions.

  • What is the speed of sound through the air?
  • What was the first man-made thing that broke the sound barrier?

What is the speed of sound through the air?

  • about 500 miles per hour
  • about 600 miles per hour
  • about 700 miles per hour

The first man-made thing that broke the sound barrier was _____.

  • a rocket
  • a whip
  • a bullet

Complete the text you are listening to by dragging the correct word to each blank.

Breaking the Sound Barrier

Sound travels fast. How fast does sound travel through air? It goes about seven hundred miles per hour. What if something goes faster than sound? We say that it broke the sound barrier. When something breaks the sound , we hear something. We hear a sonic boom.

What was the first thing that broke the sound barrier? Was it a plane? Was it a rocket? Was it a bullet? Most people think it was a plane, rocket, or . They are all wrong. It was not one of those things. It was a whip!

The tip of a can travel faster than the speed of sound. The of a whip is actually the sound of a sonic !

Read and answer the following questions.

Breaking the Sound Barrier

A whip did break the sound barrier. Image: dzone.com

Sound travels fast. How fast does sound travel through air? It goes about seven hundred miles per hour. What if something goes faster than sound? We say that it broke the sound barrier. When something breaks the sound barrier, we hear something. We hear a sonic boom.

What was the first man-made thing that broke the sound barrier? Was it a plane? Was it a rocket? Was it a bullet? Most people think it was a plane, rocket, or bullet. They are all wrong. It was not one of those things. It was a whip!

The tip of a whip can travel faster than the speed of sound. The crack of a whip is actually the sound of a sonic boom!

Source: Daily Warm-ups - Nonfiction Reading Grade 2

Which part of the whip can travel faster than sound?

  • the tip
  • the middle
  • the handle
  • the whole whip

Something broke the sound barrier if it _____.

  • weighs less than sound
  • goes slower than light
  • also travels through air
  • goes faster than sound

What can you NOT conclude from the passage?

  • An aircraft that goes 800 miles per hour has broken the sound barrier.
  • No natural things are recorded to have broken the sound barrier.
  • A plane, a rocket and a bullet are all man-made things.
  • Only when something exceeds the speed of sound does a sonic boom appear.

Put the right word in each blank. The sentences are from the text.

  1. The of a whip is actually the sound of a sonic !
  2. What was the first thing that broke the sound barrier?
  3. When something breaks the sound , we hear something.
  4. Most people think it was a plane, rocket, or .
  5. The tip of a can travel faster than the speed of sound!

Put the right word in each blank. These are new sentences for the words in the text. 

  1. A huge of thunder shook the building so hard that pictures fell off the walls.
  2. He cracked his and the horse leapt forward.
  3. She cried out in pain as the grazed her shoulder.
  4. The mountains acted as a natural to the spread of the disease.
  5. The of the explosion was heard up to 10 kilometers away.
  6. Nylon is a fibre.