answersLogoWhite

0


Best Answer

Light travels through air about 873,000 times as fast as sound does. If lightning strikes two kilometers away, it takes the light 6.67 microseconds to reach you (a microsecond is a millionth of a second), but it takes the sound 5.83 seconds to reach you. You can use that difference to determine how far away a lightning strike is. If you start a stopwatch as soon as you see a lightning flash then stop it as soon as you hear the thunder, then divide the time in seconds by 2.91 km/s, the quotient is the distance of the lightning in kilometers (divide by 4.69 miles/s to get the distance of the lightning in miles).

User Avatar

Wiki User

10y ago
This answer is:
User Avatar

Add your answer:

Earn +20 pts
Q: Why do you see the flash of lightning before heaving the thunder?
Write your answer...
Submit
Still have questions?
magnify glass
imp
Related questions

Why are you hearing thundering after lightning?

A lightning flash travels at the speed of light. The sound of thunder travels much slower. Therefore, we see the flash before we hear the thunder.


Why lightning is seen before thunder is heard?

Sound (thunder) travels much much slower than light (lightning flash).


Does thunder have a flash?

No. Lighting produces a flash. Thunder is the sound the lightning produces.


Do people see lightning before the sound of thunder reaches us?

Yes - since light travels faster than sound, you will see the lightning flash before hearing the sound of the thunder.


What is a flash of lightning and the thunder that follows?

thunderstorm


What is flash of lightning and the thunder that follows?

thunderstorm


How is thunder produced and how far away does the lightning strikes if the thunder is heard 15 seconds after the lightning is seen?

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.


Does thunder cause lightning or does lightning cause thunder. Explain?

Lightning causes thunder. Lightning is a massive electrical discharge that you see as a bolt or flash of light. Thunder is the sound caused when the lightning superheats the air, creating a shockwave.


What is The loud crashing or rumbling noise heard after a flash of lightning?

Thunder


Is thunder heard before the flash of lightning?

not if you are standing far enough away and not at all the sound of the lightning is thunder but if you were standing directly underneath it the sound would come at the exact moment of the light


Why does thunder ussually occur during storms that have lightning flashes?

The thunder is the sound of lightning but you only hear the thunder after the flash because lightning is faster than the speed of sound.


Why do sometimes hear thunder at about the same time you see flash of lightning but other times you hear thunder after the flash?

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.