Aircraft bend light?

[S77th-konkussion]

http://www.wimp.com/supersonicflight/

[aaron886]

Not quite... they compress air. Light distorts as it travels through air of varying density. When you see the visible "warp" in the air in this picture:

 

 

It's the air being compressed at high transonic speed.

[VBARhino]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schlieren_photography

[S77th-konkussion]

Yes.. That was the Subject of the email/ Title of the video I got- not a question.

[nscode]

Put the end of a vacuum cleaner tube next to a wall on a very cold day, and you will see it "bend light" :)

[Vekkinho]

Put the end of a vacuum cleaner tube next to a wall on a very cold day, and you will see it "bend light" :)

 

You must be very bored...;)

[power5]

The moisture in the air is what is being condenssed. That is why you see the cloud during a sonic boom. Light travels differently through water than air.

[Avilator]

The moisture in the air is what is being condenssed. That is why you see the cloud during a sonic boom. Light travels differently through water than air.

 

That is true, but what is happening in the photos without visible vapor is that the differences in air density are making small changes in the speed of light traveling through those areas. Those differences are perceived as "ripples." And you don't have to be going fast either, you can see this effect on aircraft with their flaps down, in the right conditions.

[sobek]

That is true, but what is happening in the photos without visible vapor is that the differences in air density are making small changes in the speed of light traveling through those areas. Those differences are perceived as "ripples." And you don't have to be going fast either, you can see this effect on aircraft with their flaps down, in the right conditions.

 

Simple matter of optical refraction, always happens when light passes through mediums with different refraction indexes. In this case, air at atmospheric pressure vs. air compressed and heated by a shockwave.

[Avilator]

Simple matter of optical refraction, always happens when light passes through mediums with different refraction indexes. In this case, air at atmospheric pressure vs. air compressed and heated by a shockwave.

 

Exactly. I was (gently) correcting power5's comment about the distortion being the result of moisture alone, not pressure or temperature differences.

[power5]

But doesn't all our air have moisture in it? So, compressing it is forcing the moisture into a denser state thus refracting the light differently. As you said, this would be the case at any speed in flight where the air is changing density. If I am wrong so be it, I like learning things but thought I had grasped this idea of shockwaves already in the past.