Re: "Age of the Cybersaur" - Tail whipping

["Allan Edels" <edels@email.msn.com>]

Actually, James, it DOES mean that the tail is breaking the sound barrier,
as is a whip!!!

    The mass involved, and the amount of available energy that can be put
into the swing determines how loud the boom is, and how sharp or dull it
sounds.

    Nathan has done extensive studies of whips, and sauropod (not
hadrosaur - the article got the story wrong) tails.  Using the great deal of
computer equipment at his disposal, he determined that the 'snap' from a
sauropod tail could be as loud as 200 decibels -  a jet engine at ground
level is around 140 decibels.

    Allan Edels

-----Original Message-----
From: Close, James <James.Close@LibertyMutual.com>
To: 'MKIRKALDY@aol.com' <MKIRKALDY@aol.com>; dinosaur@usc.edu
<dinosaur@usc.edu>
Date: Thursday, September 03, 1998 4:49 PM
Subject: RE: "Age of the Cybersaur"


> .......that hadrosaurs could use their unusual tails like
>bull-whips, snapping them
>>  fast enough to create sonic booms   ... ."
> ______________________________________
>
> wow.. that's got to be one -really- fast moving tail to create a
>sonic boom! :P
> I wonder how that idea got into the article.. even if a whip
>makes a cracking sound, it doesn't mean
> that its because its breaking the sound barrier.... oi...
>
> Jamie
>