Turboprops have an optimum speed below about 450 mph (390 kn; 720 km/h),[73] because propellers lose efficiency at high speed, due to an effect known as wave drag that occurs just below supersonic speeds. This powerful drag has a sudden onset, and it led to the concept of a sound barrier when first encountered in the 1940s. This effect can happen whenever the propeller is spun fast enough that the blade tips approach the speed of sound.