viscount has adopted no words, looked up 0 words, created 0 lists, listed 0 words, written 2 comments, added 0 tags, and loved 0 words.
viscount has adopted no words, looked up 0 words, created 0 lists, listed 0 words, written 2 comments, added 0 tags, and loved 0 words.
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Viscount commented on the word Mach
I already did. By all means recognize Ernst Mach, but his entry must include a reference to his creation of the Mach number, qv.
None of those Twitter or whatever images convey Mach number, especially those silly cars. Get a picture of a jet fighter breaking the "sound barrier" - there are lots of such pictures, typified by a large circular shock wave of water vapor part way along its fuselage (think of a dog jumping through a hoop that's covered with tissue paper) That illustrates Mach 1, as explained in my separate note.
Extra descriptive thought. The Concorde flew at Mach 2.2, Boeing's upcoming 787 will cruise at Mach 0.84, and a small Cessna flies at about Mach 0.2. But no one uses Mach numbers for anything slower than about Mach 0.75.
I'm a former military and airline pilot, now an aviation journalist. Email me for additional info, or explanations of unusual aeronautical terms and their meaning and usage.
Viscount
June 15, 2009
Viscount commented on the word Mach
The physicist Ernst Mach was certainly quite well known in his time. But I think your bubble size is grossly in error for the 1950 - 2010 timeframe. Mach postulated the Mach number, which describes an aircraft's speed relative to the ambient speed of sound. Mach 0.5 denotes half the speed of sound: Mach 1.0 equals the speed of sound, and Mach 2 is twice the speed of sound, etc. See the Concise Oxford. You don't have Mach Number in your definitions yet. When you check its usage over the period I describe, you'll have to change the scale of your bubble graph enormously!
Viscount.
June 15, 2009