Dr. Robert (Bob) Novella

speaker

1,941 appearances 6 recordings 1 series first heard May 2026 last heard 4d ago

Dr. Robert (Bob) Novella’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 6 in all, peaking in Aug 2026 with 3.

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The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe · The Skeptics Guide #1063 - Nov 22 2025 podcast

as it exceeds the speed of sound. voice-verified

And then it's over, like, ah, we're done here with the sonic booms. voice-verified

No, the shockwave is continuous. voice-verified

It booms as long as the plane is exceeding Mach 1. voice-verified

And also important, you have multiple shockwaves. voice-verified

This isn't just one big shockwave. voice-verified

Multiple shockwaves are generated from the cone, the leading cone of the plane. voice-verified

The wing, the tail, any surface like that are creating their own shockwaves. voice-verified

What happens is that all of these shockwaves kind of merge voice-verified

into a cone expanding behind the plane. voice-verified

So the plane is at the pointy end of a cone, and behind it you have the cone shape expanding. voice-verified

And it's all the sonic waves, all these shock waves that the plane fuselage, the body and the wings and everything about it, all of those shock waves are being formed and pushed into this expanding cone behind the plane. voice-verified

And when that cone intersects the ground, we hear a sonic boom. voice-verified

So that's why it's such a deal killer for commercial planes over populated areas. voice-verified

Anyone near that plane is going to hear it. voice-verified

You could hear the classic – the double sonic boom, which is often the front of the plane and the tail of the plane. voice-verified

But sometimes it's just a rumble, a nasty rumble that's kind of like hard to tease out specific booms. voice-verified

So it depends on lots of different variables. voice-verified

So that's why it's such a deal killer over populated areas. voice-verified

Anyone that's under that boom carpet, they call it the boom carpet, as the plane passes nearby, they're going to hear that boom. voice-verified

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