[THE SONIC BOOM].

A sonic boom is the audible component of a shock wave in air. The term is commonly used to refer to the air shocks caused by the supersonic flight of military aircraft or passenger transports such as Concorde (Mach 2.03, no longer flying) and the Space Shuttle (Mach 27, has only flown once since the 2003 crash). Sonic booms generate enormous amounts of sound energy, sounding much like an explosion; typically the shock front may approach 167 megawatts per square meter, and may exceed 200 decibels.