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SHOCK WAVE
Pronunciation (US): | (GB): |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A region of high pressure travelling through a gas at a high velocity
Example:
the explosion created a shock wave
Synonyms:
blast wave; shock wave
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("shock wave" is a kind of...):
undulation; wave ((physics) a movement up and down or back and forth)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "shock wave"):
sonic boom (an explosive sound caused by the shock wave of an airplane traveling faster than the speed of sound)
Context examples:
Since much of the material being flung out from the shattered star has been heated by shock waves − similar to sonic booms from supersonic planes − passing through it, the remnant glows strongly in X-ray light.
(Chandra Movie Captures Expanding Debris from a Stellar Explosion, NASA)
Shock waves are narrow regions of air where pressure, temperature, and density characteristics are drastically different than surrounding areas.
(Seeing Shock Waves, EARTH OBSERVATORY)
Data from the cosmic ray instrument tell researchers that a shock wave from the sun has hit.
(Sun sends more 'tsunami waves' to Voyager 1, NASA)
When the outflowing gas collides with previously ejected gas from other stars, the collisions produce shock waves, similar to sonic booms, which permeate the area.
(Scientists Take Viewers to the Center of the Milky Way, NASA)
The dust survived the later onslaught of shock waves from the supernova explosion, and is now flowing into the interstellar medium where it can become part of the 'seed material' for new stars and planets.
(Missing Link Between Supernovae and Planet Formation, NASA)
They then used computer algorithms and image processing software to deduce the locations of the shock waves based on distortions of the background pattern—an approach called the background-oriented schlieren technique.
(Seeing Shock Waves, EARTH OBSERVATORY)
Normally, interstellar space is like a quiet lake, but when our sun has a burst, it sends a shock wave outward that reaches Voyager about a year later.
(Sun sends more 'tsunami waves' to Voyager 1, NASA)
Until now, a key question was whether the new soot- and sand-like dust particles would survive the subsequent inward rebound shock wave generated when the first, outward-moving shock wave collides with surrounding interstellar gas and dust.
(Missing Link Between Supernovae and Planet Formation, NASA)
If you have ever heard a clap of thunder, the boom of fireworks, or the roar of a supersonic jet, you already know how shock waves sound.
(Seeing Shock Waves, EARTH OBSERVATORY)
The sun's shock waves push these particles around like buoys in a tsunami.
(Sun sends more 'tsunami waves' to Voyager 1, NASA)