Goriely Alain, McMillen Tyler
Department of Mathematics, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
Phys Rev Lett. 2002 Jun 17;88(24):244301. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.244301. Epub 2002 Jun 3.
The crack of a whip is produced by a shock wave created by the supersonic motion of the tip of the whip in the air. A simple dynamical model for the propagation and acceleration of waves in the motion of whips is presented. The respective contributions of tension, tapering, and boundary conditions in the acceleration of an initial impulse are studied theoretically and numerically.
