Re:After 35 years, Voyager nears edge of solar system
by anovikov on Monday September 10, 2012 @12:02PM
(#4500468)
Just curious why the speed of sound in interstellar medium depends on density, while in the Earth atmosphere, it does not (it is nearly same as on surface, around 10% smaller, on 100,000ft where there is hardly 2% of surface air pressure).
> The shock arises because solar wind particles are emitted from stars at about 400 km/s, while the speed of sound (in the interstellar medium) is about 100 km/s. (The exact speed depends on the density, which fluctuates considerably.) The interstellar medium, although very low in density, nonetheless has a constant pressure associated with it; the pressure from the solar wind decreases with the square of the distance from the star. As one moves far enough away from the star, the pressure from the interstellar medium becomes sufficient to slow the solar wind down to below its speed of sound; this causes a shock wave.