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Light travels much faster then sound. That is what causes the delay.
sound speed = d/p 340m/s = d/3s d= 1020 m
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.
The speed of lightning is somewhere between that of light and sound which is why most scientists would agree that the speed of light and the speed of sound make a good comparison to that of lightning and electricity.
Lightning heats up the air and the heated expanding air causes the thunder sound. You can estimate how far away the lightening was by counting seconds after the flash, 6 seconds to a mile away.thunder is the sound of lightning after the lightning strike occurs
Light travels much faster then sound. That is what causes the delay.
There is a delay between seeing the lightning and hearing the thunder because the speed of light (lightning) is much faster than the speed of sound (thunder). Thus, you SEE lightning first, and then you HEAR thunder later.
Thunder is our name for the sound made by lightning. The reason there is (usually) a delay between when you see the bolt of lightning and hear the thunder is that light travels more quickly than does sound. This is the reason that you can count seconds between seeing lightning and hearing thunder to figure out how close the lightning is to you. When the lightning is closer to you, the sound doesn't take as much time to travel to your ears and thus the gap between the lightning and thunder is shorter. So you can't see thunder because it's merely a sound - but you can see the source of that sound.
Typically, thunder can be heard up to 10 miles away from a lightning strike. Sound travels much slower than light, so there is a delay between seeing the lightning and hearing the thunder.
sound speed = d/p 340m/s = d/3s d= 1020 m
The approximate distance is 1 kilometer or about 3/5ths of a mile away.
Thunder is a sound made by lightning, where the sudden increase in pressure and heat from the lightning causes a rapid expansion of air that resulted in a loud sound.
So, the sound travels at about 340 meters per second. The answer is 340 meters X 5 seconds equals 1700 meters away is the lightning strikes.
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.
Lightning is light energy, or electromagnetic energy. And thunder is sound energy.
Lightning is light energy, or electromagnetic energy. And thunder is sound energy.
The speed of lightning is somewhere between that of light and sound which is why most scientists would agree that the speed of light and the speed of sound make a good comparison to that of lightning and electricity.