Alright kiddo, have you ever seen a plane flying in the sky and noticed how it kind of looks like it's bending or warping? That's because of something called a "shockwave" - which is basically a really strong pressure wave caused by the plane moving through the air faster than the speed of sound.
Now, scientists have figured out a way to study these shockwaves by using something called the Prandtl-Glauert transformation. It's basically a math trick that helps them understand how shockwaves affect the air around them.
Here's how it works, in simplified terms:
1. Let's say we have a point in the sky where a plane is causing a shockwave. We want to know how the air around that point is affected by the shockwave.
2. We start by imagining a flat "sheet" of air that's right next to the shockwave. This sheet is called a "wave front".
3. We then use some fancy math to "transform" the wave front into a different shape. This new shape is called a "circle". Don't worry about the math - the important thing is, this circle now represents the same information as the original wave front.
4. We can then study the circle to learn more about the shockwave and how it affects the air around it.
So, in summary, the Prandtl-Glauert transformation is a way for scientists to study shockwaves by transforming them into a circle shape that's easier to analyze. It's like a magic trick to help us understand how planes fly through the air!