Do bull whips crack?
Do bull whips crack? It takes a dexterous hand to coax a whip to crack. Now researchers report that they have discovered the mechanism responsible for the startling sound. It has long been thought that the crack results from the tip of the whip traveling fast enough to break the sound barrier and create a sonic boom. Why does a bull whip crack? Physics. The crack a whip makes is produced when a section of the whip moves faster than the speed of sound creating a small sonic boom. Based on simulations, the high speed of the tip of the...