Thunder - is the result of a lightning flash. The flash causes the surrounding air to move away from the source at 300 metres/second. An approximate calculation for the relationship between the lightning flash to hearing the thunder, is 5 seconds per mile.
Since light travels faster than sound, you can tell how many miles away a thunder storm is by counting. Lightning strikes. 5 seconds pass and you heard thunder. The thunder storm is 5 miles away.
Light is virtually instantaneous over any distance you'd be aware of a thunderstorm going on. Sound, however, takes five seconds to travel through air for each mile. If the thunder and the lightning are simultaneous, the lightning strike is very close to you. If the thunder is five seconds after the lightning, the lightning was one mile away. If the thunder is ten seconds after the lightning, the lightning was 2 miles away, and so on.
For a long time it was thought by many people that the number of seconds after the lightning strikes is the miles the center of the storm is from you. Although this does show how light travels faster than sound, this system is wrong. The actual method for finding the distance the heart of the storm is from you is by counting after you see lightning; and stop counting after you hear the thunder. Now, for every five seconds after the lightning struck until you hear the thunder, it is one mile away. So if ten seconds go by between lightning and thunder, the center of the storm is two miles away.
Lightning does indeed strike first, as thunder is the sound created by lightning. According to Wikipedia, lightning heats the air surrounding it by large quantities, which in turn causes the air to expand and create a "Sonic wave" which is similar to a sonic boom.
A typical lightning strike lasts for about 0.2 to 0.3 seconds.
If you hear the thunder almost at the same time as the lightning flash - the storm is directly overhead. Usually - the sound of thunder arrives a few seconds after the lightning, because light travels much faster than sound.
thunder cannot be prevented thunder forms after lightning strikes when lightning strikes it opens up a hole in the air called channels after lightning strikes air collapsed back in causing soundwaves that we here called thunder
thunder cannot be prevented thunder forms after lightning strikes when lightning strikes it opens up a hole in the air called channels after lightning strikes air collapsed back in causing soundwaves that we here called thunder
Heating of the air.
Since light travels faster than sound, you can tell how many miles away a thunder storm is by counting. Lightning strikes. 5 seconds pass and you heard thunder. The thunder storm is 5 miles away.
when lightning strikes it opens up a bit of air called channel after lightning strikes air collapsed back in and create soundwaves called thunder
No. Thunder is the sound produced by lightning. Lightning is a form of electricity.
Light is virtually instantaneous over any distance you'd be aware of a thunderstorm going on. Sound, however, takes five seconds to travel through air for each mile. If the thunder and the lightning are simultaneous, the lightning strike is very close to you. If the thunder is five seconds after the lightning, the lightning was one mile away. If the thunder is ten seconds after the lightning, the lightning was 2 miles away, and so on.
Approximately 2.5 miles. Every 4 second delay is the equivalent of one mile.
The big boom sounds after lightning strikes. Savvy?
For a long time it was thought by many people that the number of seconds after the lightning strikes is the miles the center of the storm is from you. Although this does show how light travels faster than sound, this system is wrong. The actual method for finding the distance the heart of the storm is from you is by counting after you see lightning; and stop counting after you hear the thunder. Now, for every five seconds after the lightning struck until you hear the thunder, it is one mile away. So if ten seconds go by between lightning and thunder, the center of the storm is two miles away.
A thunder storm is one in which a large amount of thunder is heard. Thunder is caused by lightning; it would be more correct to say that a thunderstorm only occurs with lightning strikes.