Do you think it is possible to achieve a Sonic Rainboom?

[Mr. Changeling 132]

Based on the math and science (which im not going to do, its summer break) do you think that it would be possible to perform a sonic rainboom? We know that jets can perform a sonic boom, but what makes the rainbow effect of the sonic rainboom? Could we actually replicate a sonic rainboom?

[Jadefire 2,798]

In real life? I doubt it. Rainbows are created through the refraction of sunlight through a prism: in nature it's the water moisture in the air during a rain. To replicate a Sonic Rainboow, you'd need to refract the light at the same moment you exceed the speed of sound. But I'm personally not sure if you can do that with a spray of water while moving that fast and with the sonic boom shockwave getting in the way.

[Homura Akemi 974]

Nope. Well, I know nearly nothing about physics but it's all cartoon stuff. I would love it though if science could colour a Sonic Boom a rainbow dye. 

[Darkshift 85]

It is possible but extremely unlikely.A few generations into te future we should have better technology which is capable of reaching the mass speed whilst creating a rainbow.

[isded 43]

To create a sonic boom you have to travel faster then sound. Even if you could break the light spectrum by reaching a certain speed, that speed would logically be faster than the speed of light and that's physically impossible

[Bucky McGillyCuddy 956]

I don't think anything is impossible. We just have to wait for the science to catch up to our imaginations. If humanity doesn't wipe itself out by then. 

[Silver Letter 1,832]

If technology could do it then that would be amusing. It's probably not possible though I have no concept on how it would be done.

[silverreverb 129]

even at faster than light speeds, light wouldn't break up like that. the best bet to making a sonic rainboom would be if somebody made a device that would defract the light once rainboom speed is achieved

[Gigapony 650]

A sonic boom is just a sound that happens when one breaks the sound barrier, as a result of pressure waves (which are travelling at the speed of sound) compressing together as the object pushes into them and eventually bursting as a single shock wave as the object breaks through them once it passes Mach 1 (hence the term "breaking the sound barrier").
 
The waves often produce a vapour cone or shock cone as the water vapour around the pressure waves condenses and forms a cloud. The cone is what most people associate with the image of a sonic boom.
 
As it is water vapour, if light strikes it just right, it could show a rainbow. But this isn't something that you could do as part of a performance, or on command like Dashie does. It's really up to the photographer being in the right place at the right time. And even then, the colours won't spread out like Dashie's rainbooms.
 
TL;DR: Yes you technically can but nowhere near the way it's shown in the show, which is a very cartoony depiction of a sonic boom.

And now behold, a sonic rainboom:
 

 

Edited June 23, 2013 by Gigapony