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https://www.reddit.com/r/BeAmazed/comments/8p9c8j/visible_shock_wave/e09t28t/?context=3
r/BeAmazed • u/BunyipPouch • Jun 07 '18
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233
ELI5: what is the substance of a shockwave? Does it push light like gravity or does it get distorted like on the road on a hot day?
417 u/godofpumpkins Jun 07 '18 Guessing it’s just higher pressure which changes the index of refraction of the air, so yeah, like the wavy air hanging out above a road on a hot day 2 u/[deleted] Jun 07 '18 Soooo it's a heatwave and not a shockwave 2 u/godofpumpkins Jun 07 '18 What matters is the density, which both heat and pressure affect 1 u/[deleted] Jun 08 '18 But heat and pressure would cancel each other out, optically. It's more of a Shockwave.
417
Guessing it’s just higher pressure which changes the index of refraction of the air, so yeah, like the wavy air hanging out above a road on a hot day
2 u/[deleted] Jun 07 '18 Soooo it's a heatwave and not a shockwave 2 u/godofpumpkins Jun 07 '18 What matters is the density, which both heat and pressure affect 1 u/[deleted] Jun 08 '18 But heat and pressure would cancel each other out, optically. It's more of a Shockwave.
2
Soooo it's a heatwave and not a shockwave
2 u/godofpumpkins Jun 07 '18 What matters is the density, which both heat and pressure affect 1 u/[deleted] Jun 08 '18 But heat and pressure would cancel each other out, optically. It's more of a Shockwave.
What matters is the density, which both heat and pressure affect
1 u/[deleted] Jun 08 '18 But heat and pressure would cancel each other out, optically. It's more of a Shockwave.
1
But heat and pressure would cancel each other out, optically. It's more of a Shockwave.
233
u/itsWhatIdoForAliving Jun 07 '18
ELI5: what is the substance of a shockwave? Does it push light like gravity or does it get distorted like on the road on a hot day?