text: what is a shock wave? all i know is it happens after a blast but i want to know sintifically what is happinging. when an object (or disturbance) moves faster than the information about it can be propagated into the surrounding fluid, fluid near the disturbance cannot react or "get out of the way" before the disturbance arrives. in a shock wave the properties of the fluid(density, pressure, temperature, velocity, mach number) change almost instantaneously. measurements of the thickness of shock waves have resulted in values approximately one order of magnitude greater than the mean free path of the gas investigated.  shock waves are not sound waves; a shock wave takes the form of a very sharp change in the gas properties on the order of micro-meters in thickness. shock waves in air are heard as a loud "crack" or "snap" noise. over time a shock wave can change from a nonlinear wave into a linear wave, degenerating into a conventional sound wave as it heats the air and loses energy. the sound wave is heard as the familiar "thud" or "thump" of a sonic boom, commonly created by the supersonic flight of aircraft.  everyone's familiar with the sonic boom from passing jets - that's a shock wave - but so is a balloon popping!  interesting, huh?