How many times faster - to date - have humans gone than the speed of sound?

fpgjc

Currently the Apollo space craft is the fastest manned vehicle reaching about 25000mph at it's maximum velocity ,however the speed of sound changes with the altitude ,at sea level the speed of sound is approx761mph but at 40000ft it becomed 659mph The nearest answer to the question is therefore about 38 times The fastest man made object so far is the Pioneer2 spacecraft now travelling past saturm at 172000mph http://www.apollosaturn.com/asnr/p15-24.htm Jan 16 03, 12:24 PM

Son of the Household Cavalry

I asked somebody doing just that but he didn't hear the question. Jan 16 03, 12:44 PM

sequoianoir

Technically the answer is infinitely faster. This is on the basis that you must compare the relative speeds for both in the same medium. As fpgjc points out, the speed of sound in air is 100 mph slower at 40,000ft than at sea level. The speed of sound in water is 3.5 times faster than air, humans speed much slower than air. The speed of sound in gold is approx 10 times faster than air, humans 'zero' Speed of sound in granite is approx 18 times faster than air, humans 'zero' At the opposite end of the scale, sound has a velocity of ZERO in the vacuum of space. Humans have their best performance in this medium. So humans can travel infinitely faster than sound ! Jan 16 03, 2:27 PM

Kainantu

Excellent photographs of aircraft breaking the sound barrier: http://www.wilk4.com/misc/soundbreak.htm Feb 01 03, 1:00 AM