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How many miles away is the lightning when you count 40 sec from when you saw the lightning until when you hard the thunder?
Wiki User
∙ 12y ago
What I do know is it takes 5 seconds for the sound waves to travel 1 mile.
So, if it's 5 seconds per mile, take 40 seconds and divide by 5 and the answer is 8 miles. That means if you count 40 seconds and hear the thunder, the flash was 8 miles away.
One more thing, every second, the sound travels .2 miles.
Wiki User
∙ 12y ago
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How do you estimate how far lightning is away from you?
To estimate your distance from a thunderstorm count the number of seconds between a flash of lightning and the next clap of thunder. Divide your answer by 5. See the related link below.
How do you determine how far away lightning is in feet?
First, look for a flash of lightning. After seeing one, count seconds. After research, I have seen that you can count seconds any way you prefer, like "One Mississippi, Two Mississippi," and so on, or "1, 100, 2, 100" and so on. Count whichever you like or other methods. They are both the same in time elapsed. Keep counting seconds until you hear a clap of thunder. Divide the number of seconds by five. The number you have is how many miles away the storm is.
What is the actual method for finding the distance you are from the storm using lightning and thunder?
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.
Heat lightning does it kill?
Potentially. Heat lightning is not a special kind of lightning: it is simply lightning that is too far away for the thunder to be heard. A fatal lightning bolt in a storm might only be visible as heat lightning 30 miles away.
Why is lightning heard before thunder?
Lighting always comes just before thunder because it is the heat of lightning that causes thunder. Lightning is seen when there is a discharge of atmospheric electricity in the clouds or between clouds and the ground. The energy from the lightning heats the air and causes a sudden expansion of the air (followed by a rapid contraction), which results in the sound called thunder. Since the heat of lightning causes the expansion that results in thunder, the lighting must come first. (see related link below) Because light travels faster than sound, an observer will normally perceive a delay between lightning and thunder. This delay increases with farther distance from the actual lightning strike. People will often count the seconds that pass after they see lightning until they hear the thunder. The shorter the time observed between the two, the closer the lightning is to the observer. - In English units, every 5 seconds of delay is about a mile in distance. - In metric units, every 3 seconds of delay is about a kilometer in distance.
What is the distance of lightning if you a thunder a minute ago?
Count each second when you see Lightning, until when you hear Thunder, divide it by 3, and for example 60 divided by 3 makes 20 right, so that means that it is 20 miles away, so that's your answer, Thunder that is heard one minute after the Lightning is 20 miles away.
How do you estimate how far lightning is away from you?
To estimate your distance from a thunderstorm count the number of seconds between a flash of lightning and the next clap of thunder. Divide your answer by 5. See the related link below.
What are the similarities of thunder and lightning?
No, the two are quite different. The main difference is lightning is light, thunder is sound. Lightning is an electric charge that can come from a cloud for various reasons. Thunder is the sound made by lightning. Since sound travels slower than light, lightning comes first, thunder second.
How do you determine how far away lightning is in feet?
First, look for a flash of lightning. After seeing one, count seconds. After research, I have seen that you can count seconds any way you prefer, like "One Mississippi, Two Mississippi," and so on, or "1, 100, 2, 100" and so on. Count whichever you like or other methods. They are both the same in time elapsed. Keep counting seconds until you hear a clap of thunder. Divide the number of seconds by five. The number you have is how many miles away the storm is.
What is the actual method for finding the distance you are from the storm using lightning and thunder?
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.
Heat lightning does it kill?
Potentially. Heat lightning is not a special kind of lightning: it is simply lightning that is too far away for the thunder to be heard. A fatal lightning bolt in a storm might only be visible as heat lightning 30 miles away.
How do you calculate the distance of lightning?
If you see the flash and then count the number of seconds until the thunder. Take the speed of sound at 340.29 m/s = 0.211 miles per second. A good estimate is for every 5 seconds of delay equals 1 mile away. I answered a question similar to this one, earlier today.
If you hear thunder 36 seconds after you see a flash of lightning how far away is the thunderstorm?
About 12 kilometers (7.45 miles). After you see a bolt of lightning, for every 3 seconds until you hear the thunder, it means it is one kilometer away (3 seconds = 1 kilometer). This is because the sound wave created by the lightning is traveling at about 330 m/sec (in dry air, the speed of sound is about 343 m/sec or 1127 ft/sec).You can also divide by 5 to determine the approximate number of miles. In this case it would be calculated as about 7.2 miles away.
How come you see lighting and do not hear it and how come you hear thunder and do not see it?
You see lightning before you hear it because light moves faster than sound. Thunder comes from the lightning. You can't hear it until the sound waves reach you.
When an explosion in the atmosphere occurs Why do you see lightning before the thunder heard?
this is because you hear the thunder after it actually makes the sound ( because sound travells ) . lightenging and thunder happen at exactly the same time... so if u see lightenging, try counting how many seconds until u hear the thunder. if it is 5 seconds the storm is 5 miles away into the sky, 6 seconds would be 6 miles 7secs 7 miles and so on. hope this helped :) xx
How do you calculate how far a storm is away?
After you here thunder every 6 seconds until the next lightning strike it is a mile.
Are you save on a boat when there is lighting?
It depends on if the storm is right on top of you or a couple miles away to know how many miles away you are from a storm wait for lighting to come then count until you hear thunder and the last number you stopped on is how far away the storm is
