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What causes a thunderstorm?

Updated: 8/10/2023
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12y ago

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Thunder is caused by lightning. Thunder is the sound caused by rapidly expanding gases a channel of lightning discharge. Lightning has enough energy to heat the air up to 18,000 degrees Fahrenheit. This causes a rapid spreading of the air, creating a sound wave heard as thunder. The sharp click or crack heard very near, right before the main crash of thunder.
Thunder is the sound produced after a lightening strike. Lightening is a huge electrical discharge. The charge pushes apart the air molecules. The molecules are heated rapidly and expand quickly. This creates vibration that reaches our ears as sound. You can tell how far apart the lightening strike is by counting the number of seconds between the flash and the sound. Approximately 1 miles is equal to 1 second, more or less. This works because of the speed at which sound travels.
Thunder is the rumbling or crack of sound that can usually be heard from the sky during a storm.

Thunder is caused because lightning heats up the air, to about 30 000ºC, causing it to expand quickly. The rumbling occurs as the sound passes through atmospheric layers at different temperatures.

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6y ago
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12y ago

A thunderstorm is a cloud formation where large amounts of water undergoes a cycle of condensation, freezing then revaporizating as the currents of vapor within the cloud rises and falls. This produces static electricity which discharges as lightning. Thunderstorms are caused by a collision of warm air and cold air.

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11y ago

During a thunderstorm,clouds gather due to friction between the cloudsand the air and due to the presence of other charged particles in the air.when two clouds with unlike charges come near each other,there can be a very heavy flow of charge between them and this causes energy to be released in the form of light and heat.the air get heated up and expand suddenly

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10y ago

Motions of ice and water crystals in the cloud build up an enormus amount of static electricity, then the cloud releases lightning. The sound from the lightning is called thunder. -lolz Laura chika-

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9y ago

Lightning causes thunder. When lightning hits the ground, a second bolt will go from the ground to the clouds. The air temperature around these bolts of air raise rapidly, compress outward, and explode causing a shock wave that makes a loud booming noise.

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13y ago

Thunder storms are caused by warm, moist air rising through the atmosphere. As this air rises it cools and the moisture condenses, forming clouds. If the updrafts driving this are strong enough the clouds develop from cumulus clouds, to tall cumulus congestus clouds, to large cumulonimbus clouds. It is these clouds that are usually called thunderstorms. Often the updrafts are triggered when the warm air mass meets a cooler and/or drier air mass (along a cold front or dryline).

The lighting itself comes from positive and negative charges within the thunder cloud and on the ground. The ground and top of the cloud generally carry positive charges and the bottom of the cloud generally carries a negative charge. Eventually enough of a charge difference builds up the the electricity discharges in the form of lightning. The lightning superheats the air to tens of thousands of degrees in a fraction of a second, creating a shockwave that is hear as thunder.

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10y ago

Lightning is a flash of light created by electric discharge. It is extremely bright for a brief moment in time even at great distances. You have probably seen static electricity where you see a small spark. Lightning is similar except of course on a much bigger scale. Lightning requires a big vertically developing cloud complex. A cloud that produces lightning will tend to also have rain falling out of it. The precipitation process within a cloud is a reason lightning occurs. As ice and water develop in clouds there is an electrical buildup. The electrical buildup on each ice and water drop is very small but the huge number of ice crystals and water drops creates a large electrical difference between different portions of the cloud. Lightning occurs to balance the electrical build in the clouds or between the clouds and the ground.

Thunder is created by a rapid expansion of air. Think of a balloon popping. There is a sudden release of noise due to the rapid expansion of air. When lightning moves through the air it increases the temperature of the air dramatically in a very short period of time. The air then cools rapidly. This rapid expansion and contraction of the air gives off the sound waves that is heard from the lightning.

Lightning is very dangerous. Make sure to stay inside when there is lightning.

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11y ago

When lightning strikes it is so fast and forceful it creates a vacuum and the sound of the thunder is the surrounding air slamming back into place when the lightning

dissipates.

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12y ago

Thunder is cause by

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Anonymous

Lvl 1
3y ago

2 clouds collied

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Q: What causes a thunderstorm?
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