Editing Shock wave (section)

=== Detonation wave ===
{{Main|Detonation}}
* A [[detonation]] wave is essentially a shock supported by a trailing [[exothermic reaction]]. It involves a wave travelling through a highly combustible or chemically unstable medium, such as an oxygen-methane mixture or a [[high explosive]]. The chemical reaction of the medium occurs following the shock wave, and the chemical energy of the reaction drives the wave forward.
* A detonation wave follows slightly different rules from an ordinary shock since it is driven by the chemical reaction occurring behind the shock wavefront. In the simplest theory for detonations, an unsupported, self-propagating detonation wave proceeds at the [[Chapman–Jouguet condition|Chapman–Jouguet]] flow velocity. A detonation will also cause a shock to propagate into the surrounding air due to the overpressure induced by the explosion.
* When a shock wave is created by [[high explosive]]s such as [[trinitrotoluene|TNT]] (which has a [[detonation velocity]] of 6,900&nbsp;m/s), it will always travel at high, supersonic velocity from its point of origin.

[[Image:Photography of bow shock waves around a brass bullet, 1888.jpg|thumb|right|[[Schlieren photography|Schlieren photograph]] of the detached shock on a bullet in supersonic flight, published by Ernst Mach and Peter Salcher in 1887]]
[[File:Supersonic-bullet-shadowgram-Settles.tif|thumb|Shadowgram of shock waves from a supersonic bullet fired from a rifle. The shadowgraph optical technique reveals that the bullet is moving at about a Mach number of 1.9. Left- and right-running bow waves and tail waves stream back from the bullet and its turbulent wake is also visible. Patterns at the far right are from unburned gunpowder particles ejected by the rifle.]]