What was the primary academic interest that led Ernst Mach to study acoustic and supersonic flow?
Explanation
This question probes the motivation behind Ernst Mach's groundbreaking experimental work. Section 1.3.2 and his biography in 1.3.6 clarify that his research into optics was the direct path that led him to investigate supersonic phenomena.
Other questions
What are the two primary phenomena that distinguish compressible flow from almost incompressible flow?
Who is credited with being the first to measure the speed of sound in air in the year 1640?
Who first provided experimental proof of the existence of shock waves using an innovative photographic technique called the shadowgraph?
The model for frictionless flow with constant heat transfer, where the material reaches a choking point due to heat transfer, is named after which scientist?
In what year did Ludwig Prandtl present his revolutionary paper on boundary layer theory, “Flussigkeitsbewegung Bei Sehr Kleiner Reibung”?
Who is credited with inventing the converging-diverging nozzle in 1882?
What dimensionless group in heat transfer, which is associated with the Mach number and relevant to compressible flow, is named in honor of E.R.G. Eckert?
The scientists Rankine and Hugoniot independently redeveloped the equations that govern the relationship of a one-dimensional shock wave by using which three conservation equations?
Who was the first scientist to discover that sound waves must travel in a medium, leading to the concept that sound is a pressure change?
Which scientist, considered the Eckert equivalent for compressible flow, was instrumental in transforming the field with his two-volume book and is credited as the first to propose an isothermal flow model?
According to the text, the realization that the moving shock in most cases can be analyzed as a steady state problem can be traced to as early as which decade?
What phenomenon is defined as the situation where downstream conditions, which are beyond a critical value, do not affect the flow?
Which scientist was the first to derive the speed of sound for a gas as c = sqrt(kRT) from the mechanics of particles?
In 1808, which scientist found a solution to Euler's equations that required a discontinuity, correctly deriving the jump conditions that such a solution must satisfy?
What condition did Prandtl introduce in 1908 that demonstrated a shock wave has only one direction?
What was the first experimental choking phenomenon discovered by Fliegner's experiments in the mid-1860s based on?
According to Ascher Shapiro's analysis, at what Mach number does choking occur for isothermal flow?
In 1904, the Wright brothers demonstrated that results from a wind tunnel and what other contemporary experimental apparatus were different, leading to the disuse of the latter?
What manufacturing process is mentioned as an unexpected example where compressible flow is important because air is displaced by liquid metal in a matter of milliseconds?
In his 1860 thesis, which scientist redeveloped the 'jumping' conditions for a discontinuity but was unsure whether it was a real physical creature or merely a mathematical one?
Who is called the modern father of fluid mechanics because of his introduction of concepts like the boundary layer and turbulence mixing theories?
The Fanno flow model, which describes adiabatic flow with friction, was first suggested by Gino Fanno in his Master's thesis in what year?
Which scientist, a Scottish engineer and physicist, was a founding contributor to the science of thermodynamics and is known for developing the theory of the steam engine and the Rankine Cycle?
The name 'Mach Number' was coined by J. Ackeret in 1932 in honor of Ernst Mach. J. Ackeret was a student of which influential scientist?
In the early development of external flow theory, who introduced the concept of the boundary layer in 1904, which allowed for significant simplification of the Navier-Stokes equations?
What is the critical pressure ratio (the ratio of downstream pressure to upstream pressure) that Bendemann found to create maximum flow rate in a converging-diverging nozzle?
Which two scientists demonstrated in 1918 that at a 'critical Mach number', airfoils suffer dramatic increases in drag and decreases in lift, a problem related to shock waves?
The analytical solution for the 'balloon' problem (related to airbags) and forced volume models was first published in version 0.35 of this book in what year?
Galileo Galilei, born in 1564, was a professor of mathematics at which university starting in 1592?
Who received the Nobel Prize in 1904 and published the influential two-volume 'Theory of Sound' during 1877-1878?
Gino Fanno, the originator of the Fanno flow model, received his master's degree from a technical institute in which city?
Which of these concepts is NOT listed as being linked to Ludwig Prandtl?
Ascher Shapiro, a key figure in compressible flow, received his Sc.D. in mechanical engineering from which institution?
The early application where compressibility had a major effect, which led to research on the speed of sound as a limit, was in which technology?
Which scientist, working in Paris in 1808, published a 'Memoire sur la theorie du son' that contained an implicit form of the jump conditions for a discontinuity?
The famous report NACA 1135 claimed that an explicit analytical solution for which phenomenon was not possible?
In 1949, which researcher was the first to recognize that both strong and weak shocks past a wedge could be stable?
What does the text identify as a major obstacle to the advancement of thermodynamics in the early 19th century, delaying the establishment of the first law for about a century?
Which scientist, a Jewish engineer who had to convert to Catholicism to avoid persecution during WWII, is credited with the Fanno flow model but passed away in 1960 without world recognition for it?
What was the subject of Ludwig Prandtl's Ph.D., which is interesting given his later title as the father of modern fluid mechanics?
According to the text, a large part of the knowledge in compressible flow is relatively new, and the core of gas dynamics, such as Fanno flow and isothermal flow, are not part of what other related field?
Who did Ernst Mach convince that he was mistaken about his work on discontinuities, leading the scientist to retreat from his work in 1848?
What physical feature did Stodola, Fanno's adviser, realize was represented by the intersection of the Fanno line and the Rayleigh line?
The research by Romer et al in 1955 extended the analysis of isothermal flow to what kind of geometry?
When did Galileo Galilei die, after being put under house arrest for the remainder of his life?
What important parameter in the study of compressible flow did Ernst Mach realize was more significant than velocity alone?
Who developed the lifting line theory, which enabled accurate calculations of induced drag and its effect on lift, and was published in 1918-1919?
What was the main component in Gino Fanno's analysis of flow with friction, a concept that had already been proposed by Darcy in 1845?
In the context of the history of external compressible flow, at what Mach number is the flow over an external body generally considered to be compressible, where shock waves can begin to form?