DU Science peeps

[RainDog]

Could a sonic boom trigger an earthquake fault? seems there was a boom the night before east of the epicenter.

[Pierre.Suave]

1. NO

unequivocally, NO.

Are you sure that noise was a Sonic Boom though?

[RainDog]

4. that's what the teeeveee news says

apparently, the night before, a bunch of ppl in N. IN freaked out b/c of a sonic boom that was caused by some military aircraft. All I know is that it is a mighty powerful pop of energy, right? wouldn't all of its force expand equally in all directions until part of it hit some interference?

[hobbit709]

5. Not only no but hell no!

It would take large orders of magnitude more energy to move the ground. Thunder is a sonic boom.

[TZ]

6. Don't get your science from the TV news.

They are freakin idiots when it comes to science. There are couple of faults out in the midwest (New Madrid and a couple others) that are fairly active for the midwest.
The amount of energy it takes to trigger an earthquake is much greater than anything a sonic boom could create..You would pretty much need a nuclear weapon to discharge to create enough energy for that.

[RainDog]

14. No *I'm* the one asking about the boom TV didn't say one made the other

the truth is that some sort of military aircraft created such a explosive-sounding boom that ppl thought... here, I found online explanation-

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-ap-in-mysteriousexplosi,1,3671710.story

(clip)
The commander of an Indiana Air National Guard unit is investigating why F-16s involved in training exercises created sonic booms two consecutive nights over north-central Indiana, shocking residents who also saw dazzling flares used in the missions.

A sonic boom and fireballs and flaming debris that Kokomo-area residents reported seeing in the sky Wednesday night prompted Howard County's police agencies to conduct a two-hour search for what many residents thought was a crashed aircraft.

As it turned out, the fireballs were flares fired by F-16s that are part of the 122nd Fighter Wing, an Indiana Air National Guard unit based at Fort Wayne International Airport.

Staff Sgt. Jeff Lowry with Indiana National Guard's headquarters in Indianapolis said the jets taking part in the training are not supposed to exceed the speed of sound, which is about 760 mph, because supersonic speeds produce sonic booms.

...
Police switchboards in Howard and Tipton counties were inundated by calls after residents saw bright lights just before a loud sound like a sonic boom Wednesday night.

Smith's secretary, Janice Hart, said she was lying on her bed talking to her niece when a loud explosion rocked her home.

"It just shook my house to its depths. As soon as it happened, my niece said, 'Oh my God Aunt Janice, what was that?' I looked out my bedroom window and my husband went to the front of the house to see what it was," she said.

Hart, who initially thought an explosion had rocked a nearby factory, was busy Thursday morning handling calls about the noise and lights.
(/clip)

So, much more powerful than a typical aircraft sonic boom...

I don't know what sort of force is needed if two plates are already overlapping bigtime or whatever.

Don't blame the news. Blame me. I don't feel bad about asking stupid questions, tho, if this is one, because otherwise how would I know?

[Pierre.Suave]

7. Not a chance...

if a sonic boom had enough power to cause earthquakes, I am sure it would flatten every single home with in a 100 mile radius as well.

It just can't happen.

[Fox Mulder]

8. I've heard of UFO's making sonic booms.

[Dr. Strange]

2. Yes

equivocally, yes.

[Pierre.Suave]

9. Troublemaker...

:rofl:

[TZ]

3. I doubt it

And if it could why would it be 24 hours later?

[Fox Mulder]

10. How long was the sonic boom before the earthquake?

[TZ]

11. It can't trigger an earthquake

Its impossible..as I said upthread..you need a nuclear weapon to generate the amount of energy. If a sonic boom could trigger an earthquake..why did we never have earthquakes in DC when the Concorde was flying in and out (generates sonic booms)....

[Fox Mulder]

13. Oh I know.

And not only that, the earthquake was at a depth of 11.6 miles.

[RainDog]

16. sorry if my question is so stupid

I wasn't saying it was that, just wondering if the two could be related in some way. pardon my igorance. ask me about palentology, tho, and I can sometimes kick ass.

[Fox Mulder]

18. No worries.

There's no such thing as a stupid question. :) :hi:

Edit: There was a sonic boom though, right?

[pokerfan]

19. I used to hear sonic booms daily

growing up.



Never caused an earthquake that I can remember.

[Xipe Totec]

12. Yes, it's the butterfly effect

Sonic booms cause newscasters to flap their lips.

Rapidly oscillating lips generate stupidity waves which often result in earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, and crop circles.

[deucemagnet]

15. Well, I'm not that kind of a scientist, but...

...if a sound can trigger an avalanche, why not? I guess it could hasten an earthquake, but if the predisposing conditions were in place for a sonic boom to trigger an earthquake, then there was probably going to be an earthquake in the near future, anyway. Just speculation on my part, of course.

[mike_c]

17. think about it-- earthquakes are slippages along faults...

...deep within the crust, often a kilometer or more beneath the surface. Sonic booms are shock waves in the atmosphere. If a sonic shock wave was strong enough to penetrate a kilometer or more and STILL have enough force to destabilize a fault, it would ALREADY have pulped anything on the surface.

In a word, no.