NERD ALERT: Here’s 5 Things That Unexpectedly Travel Faster Than Sound

Sound travels pretty bloody quickly. 1,234km/h, to be specific, so it’s damn impressive when something manages to go even faster than that.

But it turns out plenty of things do, even some that you would never expect. Sure, incredibly fast jets and souped-up land vehicles are capable of breaking the sound barrier, but what I’m really talking about is the mundane crap we encounter everyday.

For example, did you know a ping pong ball has travelled faster than sound? In 2013, some students from Indiana’s Purdue University successfully fired one out of a air-powered cannon at 1,478.99km/h.

You wouldn’t wanna get in its way, either. Even though they’re light in weight, a ping pong ball traveling at those speeds delivers as much energy as a brick dropped from several stories. Yikes.

And you know what else breaks the sound barrier? Popping a bloody balloon.

Have you ever noticed how the remnants of a popped balloon are usually rippled? Well according to a bunch of scientists (read: nerds), this is because the cracks that travel through the rubber during its popping are actually going faster than sound, creating a shockwave that results in rippled debris. Wild stuff.

There are a few other things that go that fast and you can check them out in our video below. Do it.


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