The speed of light is much faster than the speed of sound. You see the lightening before you hear the thunder.
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.
No, thunder actually happens simultaneously with lightning. The sound of thunder is created by the rapid expansion and contraction of the air surrounding a lightning bolt. The time it takes for you to hear thunder after seeing lightning depends on how far away the lightning strike is. Every 5 seconds between seeing a lightning flash and hearing the thunder equals approximately 1 mile of distance.
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.
Thunder is the sound produced by lightning as it rapidly heats and expands the air. It is not a flash like lightning, but rather the result of the shock wave created by the sudden expansion of the air.
By listening for the thunder. When you see a prominent lightning strike, start counting "one thousand one, one thousand two", etc. Each of those is about one second. There are five seconds in every mile (sound travels 1/5th of a mile per second). If you count to fifteen, the lightning strike is three miles away. Lightning and thunder occur at the same instant when the lightning strike is very close to you, and the thunder will sound more like a cymbal crash.
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.
If there are many seconds between the flash of lightning and the roar of thunder, it indicates that the storm is far away. Each second of delay between seeing the lightning and hearing the thunder represents a distance of about 1 mile between you and the lightning strike.
To find the miles to the lightning, you can count the number of seconds between seeing the flash and hearing the thunder (time interval). Divide this number by 5 to get the distance in miles, as sound travels at about 1 mile every 5 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.
This delay of 5 seconds corresponds to approximately 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) of distance from the lightning. Thunder travels about 1 mile in 5 seconds through air.
the lightning was 0.8 miles away.
No, thunder actually happens simultaneously with lightning. The sound of thunder is created by the rapid expansion and contraction of the air surrounding a lightning bolt. The time it takes for you to hear thunder after seeing lightning depends on how far away the lightning strike is. Every 5 seconds between seeing a lightning flash and hearing the thunder equals approximately 1 mile of distance.
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.
Thunder is the sound produced by lightning as it rapidly heats and expands the air. It is not a flash like lightning, but rather the result of the shock wave created by the sudden expansion of the air.
thunderstorm
By listening for the thunder. When you see a prominent lightning strike, start counting "one thousand one, one thousand two", etc. Each of those is about one second. There are five seconds in every mile (sound travels 1/5th of a mile per second). If you count to fifteen, the lightning strike is three miles away. Lightning and thunder occur at the same instant when the lightning strike is very close to you, and the thunder will sound more like a cymbal crash.
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.