What are oblique shocks?

An oblique shock is like when a car swerves suddenly on a road and creates a wave that ripples through the air, but instead of a car, it's something really fast, like a plane.

Think about playing tag on a windy day. You're running super fast, and the wind hits you from the side. That’s kind of what happens with an oblique shock, when something moves really fast through air (or another gas), it can cause the air to change direction suddenly.

Now imagine your favorite toy car swerves sharply on a road, making the other cars around it stop or slow down for a second. That’s like what happens with oblique shocks, the fast-moving object (like a plane) makes the air shift quickly, and this change affects the air around it.

Instead of just hitting you head-on, the wind hits you from an angle, making the shock wave slant, that's why we call it oblique, which means "slanted" or "angled."