I want to know, whether a shockwave itself, not a bomb or anything, has the power to increase the temperature of the substances it moves through. Seeing as it’s a moving mass I would think it creates heat, and if that’s true how much does it dissipate heat in its environment. Would it change the temperature of a human, or water, or rock?
I ask this to be explained really simply as physics is way over my head and I’m hopelessly lost when math starts getting involved.
In: Physics
A shockwave is sound. Sound starts out loud and gets softer as you move away. Part of this effect is spreading the sound over a larger area and part of the effect is friction dissipating the energy.
The part of the effect that is friction dissipating the sound energy absolutely raises the temperature of the air. Warmer air can warm the environment. However, these effects are very small, and not at all how explosions start fires. You’d need nice scientific equipment to measure the heat increases.
Yes, a shockwave is a sudden change in air pressure and this results in a change in temperature as well, the rise in temperature can be significant if the shockwave is very strong.
For instance the main source of heat in space capsules during reentry is not friction, it’s the temperature of their own shockwave. But you have to take into account that in this case the capsule moves along with the shockwave, if an object is at rest the shockwave will pass quickly and it won’t have much time to heat it.
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