shock front

noun

1. the forward boundary surface of a shock wave.

Word History and Origins

Origin of shock front¹

First recorded in 1945–50

Example Sentences

The international team has uncovered a dual nature behind the shock front, previously unknown to astronomers.

From Science Daily

Eventually pressure from interstellar matter checks the heliosphere's expansion, creating a boundary—preceded by an enormous shock front, the “termination shock”—with interstellar space.

From Scientific American

From the air, the explosion’s shock front could be seen racing across the lagoon toward an armada of ninety mothballed warships—American, German, and Japanese—which were moored nearby.

From The New Yorker

Of the absence of fireworks, he said: "This is factually correct, but no models actually predicted increased accretion in 2014 - that would come later only. So the absence now is not telling much, I fear. "On the other hand, it was estimated that the shock front of G2 rushing through the ambient gas might be observable.

From BBC

The x-ray photos show a wispy bright line of gas that is emitting x-ray light to one side of the black hole—perhaps indicating the jet itself—and the radio observations highlight a wall of gas that scientists think is a shock front created where the jet is slamming into a cloud, snow-plowing the gas into a clump.

From Scientific American